Travel Oracles 50 States: West Virginia
As part of my summer series - Travel Oracles 50 States - I am revisiting each os the fifty American states as an overview on travel culture and history. Today: West Virginia
Joined: West Virginia was part of the Virginia Colony during the Revolutionary War. The region tried to split off and form its own state during the revolution. They petitioned the Second Continental Congress to join the Union as a 14th state called "Westsylvania", but the petition was denied. The U.S. state of West Virginia was formed out of western Virginia and added to the Union as a direct result of the American Civil War, in which it became the only modern state to have declared its independence from the Confederacy. President Lincoln proclaimed that West Virginia would officially be recognized as a state on June 20, 1863.
Original Indigenous Peoples: The Shawnee, Delaware, and Cherokee, as well as Iroquoian-speaking groups including the Seneca, Tuscarawas, Susquehannock, and Mingo.
First Settlers: West Virginia was originally part of the Virginia Colony established by England in 1606. The settlement of Jamestown was established in 1607 and soon people began to settle eastern Virginia. West Virginia, however, was considered the frontier for some time. In the last 1600s, explorers entered the land and began to make maps of the territory. Settlers began to arrive in the 1700s. Many of these early settlers were of German descent and came from Pennsylvania in the north looking for new lands. In 1726, they established the settlement of New Mecklenburg.
History moment: West Virginia had always been separated physically from Virginia by the Appalachian Mountains. As a result, it was a very different area in terms of culture and economics. When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861 and joined the Confederacy, many West Virginians disagreed and wanted to remain in the Union. West Virginia seceded from Virginia later that year at the Wheeling Convention and remained loyal to the Union during the war. They applied to become a separate state and, on June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state.
Known for: the Appalachian region, rugged land (rolling mountains, hills, valleys), range of outdoor activities, coal country, ground zero of the opioid crisis
Places: Huntington, Morgantown
Movie setting: The devastating film ‘Dark Waters’ and series ‘Dopesick’ which explore exploitation of the state by corporations poisoning the water supply and the opioid epidemic
Musicians from: Billy Cox, Brad Paisley
Surprising facts: In 2020, West Virginia was the second-largest coal producer in the nation, after Wyoming, and accounted for 13% of U.S. total coal production. West Virginia also had 12% of recoverable coal reserves at producing mines, the third-largest reserve base in the nation, after Wyoming and Illinois.
With more than 226,500 acres of state parks, forests, and recreation areas, and more than a million acres of federal lands, West Virginia offers a quick escape from the urban centers of Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. Historic towns, ski resorts, caverns, and unparalleled natural scenery draw visitors to the Mountain State. The Monongahela National Forest, popular with hikers, anglers, hunters, and rock climbers, covers more than 900,000 acres along the eastern border. Dominated by the craggy peaks of the Allegheny Mountains, part of the Appalachian chain, West Virginia has a varied landscape: Let’s Travel to West Virginia
My Experience: Never been! Top things to do in West Virginia
Nature: There are six West Virginia National Parks including Bluestone NSR, Gauley River NRA, Harpers Ferry NHP and more
Ranking in US: Per the annual US News report, West Virginia is currently ranked #47 out of 50 in 2021 and 2019.