West Virginia is a state of the United States in the Appalachian Mountains, popularly called The Mountain State. It is bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the north, and Maryland to the northeast. West Virginia, which broke away from Virginia during the Civil War, is also known as a mining country, as well as for its labor disputes and relative poverty.
1 Charleston — Capital and cultural center of the state.
2 Beckley
— Site of the Tamarack mine ("the best of West Virginia") and a show
coal mine.
3 Bluefield — Virginia's highest town, located in the East
River Mountains.
4 Charles Town — historic town founded by George
Washington's youngest brother, Charles.
5 Harpers Ferry — Civil War
site, West Virginia's most popular tourist destination.
6 Huntington
— Home of Marshall University.
7 Morgantown — stomping grounds of the
West Virginia University Mountaineers.
8 Parkersburg — site of
Blennerhassett Island.
9 Wheeling — Victorian architecture and a
well-known casino.
Bluestone River is a picturesque river that carved an awe inspiring gorge in the South West Virginia.
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is one of the largest and one of the most haunted places in West Virginia and all of USA.
By plane
Yeager Airport (IATA: CRW)
Raleigh County Memorial
Airport (IATA: BKW)
By train
Amtrak serves stations in Harpers
Ferry (HFY) and Martinsburg (MRB). As well as in White Sulfur Springs
(WSS), Alderson (ALD), Hinton (HIN), Prince (PRC), Thurmond (THN),
Montgomery (MNG), Charleston (CHW) and Huntington (HUN).
By car
I64 Lexington KY - Huntington WV - Charleston WV - Beckley WV -
Lexington VA
I77 Fort Chiswell VA - Beckley WV - Charleston WV -
Cambridge OH
I79 Charleston WV - Clarksburg WV - Washington PA
It is the only state located completely within the Appalachians, and
in which all its areas are mountainous; For this reason it is nicknamed
The Mountain State. Approximately 75% of the state is within the
Cumberland Plateau and Allegheny Plateau regions. Although the relief is
not very high, these regions are extremely rugged in most areas.
At the eastern state line with Virginia, the high peaks in the
Monongahela National Forest region create an island of colder climate
and ecosystems similar to those of northern New England and eastern
Canada. Its highest point is Spruce Knob, at 1,482 meters above sea
level and is covered by a dense boreal spruce forest at altitudes above
1,220 m. This is in the Monongahela National Forest and is a part of the
Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area. A total of six areas
of moorland can also be found within the forest. Coming out of the
forest to the south, the New River Gorge is a 1,000-foot deep canyon
carved by the New River. Other areas under protection and control
include:
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Bluestone National
Scenic River
Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal National Historical Park
Gauley River National Recreation
Area
George Washington National Forest
Harpers Ferry National
Historical Park
Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge
The native vegetation was originally hardwood forest with a mix of oak,
chestnut, maple, beech and white pine, with willow and American sycamore
along the waterways. Many of the areas are rich in biodiversity and
scenic beauty, a fact that is appreciated by the population, who refer
to their home as Almost Heaven.
The underlying rock strata are
sandstones, shales, bituminous coal beds, and limestones deposited near
the edge of sediments from the mountains to the east, and in a shallow
inland sea to the west. Some beds have a coastal swamp environment, some
river delta, some surface water. Sea level rose and fell many times
during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian eras (Carboniferous Period
Epochs), creating a variety of rock strata. The Appalachian Mountains
are some of the oldest on earth, at 300 million years old.
The climate is between a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate
classification Cfa) in the lower elevations of the southwestern part
(including Huntington) and parts of the Eastern Panhandle east of the
Appalachians with warm, humid summers and mild winters. The remainder
has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa,
except Dfb in higher areas) with hot, humid summers and cold winters,
which increase in severity with increasing elevation. However, the
weather is changeable in all parts of the state. The most rigorous zones
extend from zone 5b in the central Appalachians to zone 7a in the
hottest parts of the lower foothills. In the Eastern Panhandle and Ohio
River Valley temperatures are warm enough to see and grow subtropical
plants such as magnolia grandiflora, albizia julibrissin, sweetgum and
occasionally some needle palms and lesser sabales. These plants do not
thrive in other parts of the state.
Average temperatures in
January range from -2°C near the Cheat River to 5°C along sections of
the Kentucky border. The July average ranges from 19°C along the North
Branch of the Potomac River to 24°C in the western part. The climate is
colder in the mountains than in the lower elevations.
Annual
precipitation ranges from less than 810 mm in the lower section of the
East, to more than 1,400 mm in the upper parts of the Allegheny Front.
Virtually more than half of the rainfall occurs from April to September.
Dense fogs are common in many valleys of the Kanawha section, especially
the Tygart Valley. Snow usually lasts only a few days at lower
elevations, but can persist for weeks in higher mountain areas. An
average of 86 cm of snow falls annually in Charleston, although during
the winter of 1995-1996 more than three times that amount fell in
several cities, setting new highs in snowfall records.
The region has been populated since prehistory. In Moundsville, South
Charleston and Romney there are many traces of mound culture. They are
evidence of ancient societies formed by people who had a tribal cultural
system based on trade.
Around 1670, the Iroquois expelled the
other tribes from the region and reserved it for themselves as a hunting
reserve during the Beaver War. The area was also inhabited by other
Sioux-speaking tribes.
It was a disputed territory, even by
European Americans. Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed it before the
Revolutionary War. Some companies that speculated in land, such as
Vandalia, and later the Ohio & Indiana Company, tried unsuccessfully to
legitimize their claims and settle in West Virginia and Kentucky.
With the final agreement on the border dispute between Pennsylvania
and Virginia, which led to the creation of Kentucky, the inhabitants of
the latter "were satisfied [...], and the inhabitants of most of West
Virginia were grateful."
It belonged to the British Colony of
Virginia between 1607 and 1776, and between that year and 1863 it
constituted the western part of Virginia (known as Trans-Allegheny
Virginia before the formation of West Virginia). Strong discontent with
electoral representation and underrepresentation in the state Parliament
caused residents to be divided over secession from the Union during the
Civil War.
The western and northern counties established a
separate government led by Francis Pierpont in 1861, which they called
the "restored government." The majority voted to secede from Virginia,
and the new state was admitted to the Union in 1863. A year later, a
constitutional convention wrote the state's Constitution. Although
Parliament ratified it, it was not submitted to a popular vote. In this
period, he abolished slavery and temporarily deprived those who had
worked in Confederate positions or had fought for The Confederacy.
In 1671, General Abraham Wood, under the orders of the royal governor
of the colony of Virginia, William Berkeley, sent a group of men led by
Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam to Fort Henry, who discovered Kanawha
Falls. Some sources say that Governor Alexander Spotswood's 1716
Ultramontane Expedition had already penetrated Pendleton County,
although original excursion stories modern historians suggest that none
of the pilots had ventured west of the Blue Ridge, Harrisonburg .
John Van Meter, an Indian trader, went to the northern part in 1725.
That same year, German settlers from Pennsylvania founded New
Mecklenburg, present-day Shepherdstown, on the Potomac River, and were
followed by many.
In 1661, Charles II gave that company the strip
between the Potomac and the Rappahannock, known as the Northern Neck.
The land eventually became the property of Thomas Fairfax, and in 1746
an obelisk was erected at the headwaters of the North Branch of the
Potomac, to mark the western boundary of the territory.
Between
1748 and 1751, George Washington surveyed much of the region. The diary
of that time indicates that many occupants, mainly of German origin,
behaved abusively. Christopher Gist was an explorer with the Ohio
Company, a company composed almost entirely of Virginians, which between
1751 and 1752 explored the lands along the Ohio River north of the mouth
of the Kanawha.
The Ohio Company sought to found a new colony
called Vandalia. Many settlers crossed the mountains starting in 1750,
hampered by indigenous resistance. Some natives lived permanently within
the state's current boundaries, but the region was considered a hunting
preserve, crisscrossed by many routes. During the French and Indian War,
the British settlements, scattered throughout the territory, were almost
completely destroyed.
In 1774, Virginia Crown Governor John
Murray led an expedition beyond the mountains. In turn, a corps of
militia under Colonel Andrew Lewis dealt the Shawnee, led by Cornstalk,
a devastating blow at the Battle of Point Pleasant at the confluence of
the Kanawha and the Ohio. In the Treaty of Camp Charlotte that ended
Dunmore's War, Cornstalk recognized the new frontier with Ohio, with the
Long Knives of Virginia.
In 1776, however, the Shawnee waged a
new war, and in this they were joined by the Chickamauga. Native
American attacks continued until the Revolutionary War. Settlers in this
area were generally active Whigs and many joined the Continental Army.
The Claypool Rebellion of 1780 to 1781, in which a group of men refused
to pay colonial taxes, showed weariness with war.
Social conditions in western Virginia were very different from those
in the eastern part. The population was not homogeneous, as much of the
immigration came from Pennsylvania and included Germans, Scots-Irish
Protestants, and settlers from more northern states. The eastern and
southern counties were mainly settled by people from eastern Virginia.
During the Revolutionary War, the movement to create a state beyond
the Allegheny was revived, and a petition for the birth of
"Westsylvania" was presented to Congress, arguing that to the east the
mountains were an almost impenetrable barrier. Wild nature also made
slavery unnecessary and unprofitable.
In 1829 a commission was
created to draft a new constitution. This, contrary to the claims of the
ultramontane counties, established that it was necessary to own land to
be able to vote and gave the slave counties an advantage corresponding
to three-fifths of their slave population in the allocation of state
seats. in the House of Representatives. As a result, all counties beyond
the Allegheny (except one) voted against the Constitution, which was
passed, however, to the support of the eastern counties.
The
Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 and 1851, known as the Reform
Convention, extended the right to vote to all white men over the age of
21 and provided that the governor, lieutenant governor, judges,
sheriffs, and all offices of the county were to be decided by popular
election. In turn, the composition of the General Assembly changed:
representation in the House of Delegates was assigned on the basis of
whiteness and the 1850 census, while the Senate was divided arbitrarily,
between West, which received 20 senators and East 30.
The
Westerners accepted this clause because they were promised that the
seats would be redistributed based on the 1865 census, or a referendum.
In any case, this gave a fiscal advantage to the east, since a property
tax was levied based on the real and present value of assets, with the
exception of slaves. Slaves under 12 years of age were not taxed, while
those over 12 years of age had to be paid $300, that is, a fraction of
their real value. However, the goods, animals and lands of small farmers
did have to pay their full value. Despite this and the lack of
improvements in the West, the new Constitution received 75,748 in favor
and 11,063 against, especially from the East, dissatisfied with the
advantages for the West.
Because of this, many in the West
continued to seek to form a separate state, among them the lawyer
Francis Harrison Pierpont. In addition to differences over slavery, in
that region the central government was perceived to have little interest
in repairing roads and railroads.
West Virginia was the only territory to secede from a Confederate
state, Virginia, during the Civil War, forming a separate state. At the
Richmond convention, called for the sole purpose of deciding on the
separation of Virginia from the United States on April 17, 1861, of the
49 delegates delegated from western Virginia, 17 did so in favor of
secession. , 30 against and 2 abstained.
Almost immediately
thereafter, a mass meeting in Clarksburg recommended that each county in
the northwest (present-day West Virginia) send delegates to a convention
in Wheeling, to begin its work on May 13, 1861. When it met, there were
425 delegates from 25 counties.
Some delegates were in favor of
the new state. Others argued that, since secession had not been approved
by a referendum, it was an act against the United States. It was decided
that if Virginia approved secession, another convention would be formed
in Wheeling in June 1861, including the elected members of the state
legislature. In the May 23 vote throughout Virginia, secession was
ratified by a large majority of the state as a whole. But in the western
counties, there were 34,677 votes against secession and 19,121 in favor.
The Second Wheeling Convention met as agreed on June 11 and declared
that since the Secession Convention had been called without popular
consent, all its acts were void and all who had adhered to it had ceased
from office. public. On June 19, a law was approved to reorganize the
government. The next day, convention delegates elected Francis Harrison
Pierpont as governor of Virginia, and other officials from a rival state
government and two U.S. senators (Willey and Carlile) to replace the
secessionists, before adjourning. The federal government quickly
recognized the new government and Congress accepted the two new
senators. Thus there were two state governments in Virginia: one loyal
to the United States and the other to the Confederacy.
The
Wheeling Convention and its delegates were never actually elected by the
people to act on behalf of West Virginia. Of the 103 members of this
Convention, 33 had been elected to the Virginia General Assembly, in the
regular election of May 23 . This number also includes some state
senators elected in 1859, who abandoned their offices to meet in
Wheeling. Other members "were elected even more irregularly: some at
mass meetings, others by the county committee, and still others were
apparently self-nominated." This irregular assembly appointed Unionists
to the rest of the state offices.
The Wheeling Convention
reconvened on August 20 and called for a popular vote for the formation
of a new state and for a convention to draft a constitution, in the
event of a vote in favor of the creation of the new state. In the
elections of October 24, 1861, 18,408 people voted in favor of the new
State and only 781 against. The results of these elections have been
questioned several times, as the Union Army occupied the area and its
troops were present in many voting centers, discouraging Confederate
sympathizers from voting. The majority of votes in favor of statehood
(or separation of the territory from the rest of Virginia) came from 16
counties in its northern zone. If some 50,000 voters had participated in
the Secession vote (on May 23), only a little more than 19,000
participated in the vote on the independence of the state.
In
Ohio County, seat of the Convention, only 25% of registered voters went
to the polls. At the Constitutional Convention in November 1861, Mr.
Lamb of Ohio County and Mr. Carskadon claimed that in Ohio County of
Hampshire, of a total of 195 votes, only 39 were cast by citizens, while
the rest were illegal votes by Union soldiers. In most of the territory
that would become West Virginia, there were even no elections, since
two-thirds of the territory of West Virginia had voted to secede, and
the elected officials of those counties were still loyal to Richmond.
Votes cast in the counties that had voted to secede were cast by
unionist refugees in other counties.
Despite this controversy,
the delegates met to draft a constitution for the new state. The
Convention began on November 26, 1861 and completed the work on February
18, 1862. The constitution was ratified April 11, 1862, with 18,162
votes in favor and 514 against.
On May 13, the state legislature
of the reorganized government of Virginia (acting on behalf of all
Virginia, as a government loyal to the Union and with its recognition)
approved the formation of the new state. A petition for admission to the
Union was presented to Congress, by Senator Waitman Willey of the
Restored Government of Virginia. On December 31, 1862, President Abraham
Lincoln signed the Act admitting West Virginia as a state, provided that
a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted into its
constitution. Although many thought that West Virginia's entry was
illegal and unconstitutional, Lincoln stood by his opinion on the
legality of West Virginia's admission, saying that "the body which
consents to the entry of West Virginia is the Legislature of Virginia"
and that the Therefore, his entry was both constitutionally convenient.
The Convention met again on February 12, 1863 and approved the
changes required by the federal government. The revised Constitution was
adopted March 26, 1863, and on April 20, 1863, President Lincoln issued
the official announcement that the state was admitted to the Union,
effective June 20, 1863. Meanwhile, government officials were elected of
the state, while Governor Pierpont moved Virginia's capital to the
Union-occupied city of Alexandria, and exercised jurisdiction over all
remaining counties in Virginia.
The question of the
constitutionality of the formation of the new state was then brought
before the Supreme Court. Berkeley and Jefferson counties, situated on
the Potomac River east of the mountains, voted in 1863 to annex West
Virginia, with the consent of the reorganized Virginia government. Many
voters in these strongly pro-Southern counties were serving in the
Confederate army at the time of the vote, and therefore upon their
return, refused to recognize the transfer.
The Virginia General
Assembly repealed this act of secession and in 1866 sued West Virginia,
asking the Supreme Court to declare those counties part of Virginia,
which would have made West Virginia's admission as a state
unconstitutional. Meanwhile, on March 10, 1866, Congress passed a joint
resolution recognizing the transfer. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of
West Virginia in 1870.
During the Civil War, the forces of Union
General George B. McClellan took control of the main part of the
territory in the summer of 1861, culminating in the Battle of Rich
Mountain, and Unionist control was never seriously threatened again,
despite an attempt by Robert Edward Lee in the same year. In 1863,
General John D. Imboden, with 5,000 Confederates, recovered a
considerable part of the state. Guerrilla bands broke out and looted
some areas, and were not completely suppressed until the war ended. The
counties in the eastern section were most affected by the war, with
military control changing several times over the years.
The area
that became West Virginia provided a nearly equal contingent of both the
Union and Confederate armies, approximately 22,000-25,000 soldiers each.
Because of this, in 1865 the Wheeling government removed the right to
vote. to the soldiers of the new state, who had served in the
Confederate army, to remain in power. James Ferguson, who proposed the
law, said that without it he would have lost the election by 500 votes.
Confederate property could also be confiscated, by an amendment to the
state Constitution to expropriate those who had served the Confederacy.
The 14th and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution sparked
reactions in the state. The Democratic Party returned to power in 1870
and in 1871 the 1866 amendment was repealed, although the first steps
towards this change had been taken by the Republican Party in 1870. On
August 22, 1872, a completely new Constitution was approved.
Beginning in the Reconstruction era and for several decades, both states
repeatedly argued over the division of Virginia's antebellum debt, and
the funds that were used to finance public infrastructure such as
canals, highways, and railways. railways by the Virginia Public Works
Agency. Virginians, led by former Confederate general William Mahone,
formed a political coalition that was based on precisely this, and was
called the Readjustment Party. Although West Virginia's first
constitution had laid the foundation for assuming part of Virginia's
debt, negotiations that opened in 1870 were unsuccessful. In 1871
Virginia decided to assume two-thirds of the debt and arbitrarily assign
the rest to West Virginia. The issue was finally resolved in 1915, when
the United States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia
$12,393,929.50. The last installment of this sum was paid in 1939.
According to the 2000 national census of the United States Census
Bureau, the population in 2000 was 1,808,344 inhabitants, a growth of
0.8% in relation to the population in 1990, which was 1,793,477
inhabitants. . An estimate made in 2005 estimates the population at
1,816,856 inhabitants, a growth of 1.3% in relation to the population in
1990, 0.5% in relation to the population in 2000, and 0.2% in relation
to the estimated population in 2004.
The decrease in the natural
population between 2000 and 2005 was 3,296 inhabitants - 108,292 births
111,588 deaths - the population growth caused by immigration was 14,209
inhabitants, while interstate migration increased by 3,691 inhabitants.
Between 2000 and 2005, the population grew by 8,506 inhabitants.
5.6% of the population is less than 5 years old, 22.3% is less than 18
years old and 15.3% of the population is 65 years or older. The female
population makes up approximately 51.4% of the population.
Upon becoming a state in 1863, it established a public school system.
In 1933, the state's 398 school districts were reorganized into 55
districts, each operating within each county.
Currently, all
educational institutions need to follow rules and regulations dictated
by the Council of Education, made up of nine members chosen by the
governor for terms of up to nine years. This council is administered by
a superintendent, elected for four years. It has 55 school districts,
each operating in a county. Each school district has its own
superintendents. Charter schools - independent public schools, which are
not managed by school districts, but depend on public budgets to
operate, are not permitted to operate. Schooling is compulsory for all
children and adolescents over six years of age, until the completion of
secondary education or until the age of fifteen.
In 1999, public
schools served approximately 291,800 students, employing approximately
21,100 teachers. Private schools served nearly 15,900 students,
employing approximately 1,500 teachers. The public school system
accounted for about $1,987 million, and public school spending is
approximately $7,200 per student. About 78.7% of inhabitants over 25
years of age have a secondary education diploma.
The first
library was founded in 1808, in Wheeling. The first public library, for
its part, was founded on May 18, 1859, in Ohio County. Currently, it has
about 97 public library systems, which move an average of 4.4 books per
inhabitant.
West Virginia University has 37 higher education
institutions, of which 15 are public and 22 are private. The state's
first institution of higher learning, West Virginia University, was
founded in 1867 in Morgantown. This is the largest institution of higher
learning.
The gross domestic product was 53,782 million dollars in 2005. The
per capita income, for its part, was 29,602 dollars, the second smallest
in the country, only behind Mississippi. The unemployment rate is 5.3%.
The primary sector accounts for 5% of GDP. Together, agriculture and
livestock account for 1% of the GDP, and employ approximately 29,900
people. The effects of the logging and fishing industries are not of
great magnitude on the economy. It has about 21,000 farms, covering
approximately 85%. The main products of the agricultural industry are
poultry, cattle meat and milk, straw, corn, tobacco, apples and peaches.
The secondary sector contributes 18% of the GDP. The manufacturing
industry, with 16% of GDP, employs approximately 84,600 people. The
total value of products manufactured in the state is $9 billion. The
main industrialized products manufactured in the state are chemical
products, wooden furniture and transportation equipment. Mining
contributes 7% of GDP, employing around 26,300 people. The main natural
resource extracted in the state is coal. The state of West Virginia is
the second largest coal producer in the United States. The extraction of
coal from mountain tops is a common practice in different regions, which
has produced several ecological consequences such as soil erosion,
ecosystem degradation and deforestation. Despite these impacts, few
studies demonstrate evidence that these extractive practices provide
benefits to local communities. Other important natural resources are oil
and granite. The construction industry accounts for 5% of GDP, employing
approximately 48,900 people.
The services sector accounts for the
majority of the GDP, with 77%. About 18% of GDP is generated through
community and personal services. This sector employs around 263,600
people. Government services account for 16% of GDP, employing
approximately 84,600 people. Wholesale and retail trade accounts for 15%
of GDP, and employs approximately 192,800 people. Financial and real
estate services account for about 15% of GDP, employing approximately
46,900 people. Transport, telecommunications and public services employ
some 44,900 people, and account for 11% of the GDP. 99.5% of the
electricity generated in the state is produced in coal-fired
thermoelectric plants. The rest is produced in small hydroelectric
plants and in thermoelectric plants powered by oil or natural gas.
The Bush administration has promoted the interests of the mining
industry, facilitating mountaintop coal mining, and more generally has
responded to companies' demands, including relaxing health regulations.
Its main transportation center is Charleston. In 2002 it had 3,595 kilometers of railway tracks. Coal accounts for 95% of the railway cargo transported. In 2003, it owned 59,534 kilometers of public roads, of which 884 kilometers were interstate highways, considered part of the United States federal highway system.
The first newspaper, the Potomak Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser,
was first published in 1790, in Shepherdstown. The oldest newspaper
still in circulation, meanwhile, is The Intelligencer, first printed in
Wheeling in 1852. There are currently 97 newspapers published, of which
21 are dailies.
The first radio station was founded in 1923, in
Huntington. The first television station was founded in 1949, also in
Huntington. Currently, it has 123 radio stations - of which 51 are AM
and 72 are FM - and 11 television stations.