In the years which preceded European colonization of the area, the territory which is now the state of West Virginia was not a home, but a hunting and battle ground for Native American tribes. In the seventeenth century the first European settlements in the area were made by the English, but for over 200 years the region was simply what its name describes; the western part of the state of Virginia. The high mountains and unfriendly Native American tribes, along with conflicting French and English claims to the land, proved to be a barrier against permanent colonization of the region. Eventually the western portion of Virginia became a rural getaway for the state's wealthy plantation owners. In fact, the country's first spa, at the Town of Bath in what is now West Virginia, was established by George Washington himself in 1776. Subsequently, many Presidents from Virginia summered in the rural western half of the state.
Just as had happened in several other states, the state of Virginia slowly developed a division between its richer eastern half, and more rural western half. Different economically, socially, politically, and culturally, from their neighbors in the eastern half of the state, West Virginians soon became dissatisfied with their "second class" treatment. They attempted unsuccessfully to secede from Virginia twice, first proposing the Vandalia Colony in 1769, and then the "fourteenth state" movement for the establishment of Westsylvania in 1776. Because it was claimed as a county of Virginia, West Virginia needed Virginia's permission to secede. Since losing the western portion of the state would mean a loss of votes in Congress for Virginia, none of the westerners proposals were ever accepted.
The confrontation which indirectly caused the first battles of the Civil War occurred in West Virginia (technically it was still part of Virginia) when radical abolitionist John Brown captured Harper's Ferry on October 16, 1859. Harper's Ferry had been George Washington's arsenal, and the guns used by Lewis and Clark were made there. It was Brown's intention to use the captured town and the weapons in the federal arsenal to lead a rebellion of freed slaves. By the next day, however, federal troops recaptured the fort. Brown was tried and hanged, becoming a martyr for the Abolitionist cause.
West Virginia remained a poor relation to Virginia until the Civil War, when Virginia seceded from the Union. Seizing the moment, the people of West Virginia declared that Virginia's secession was an illegal attempt to overthrow the federal government. The West Virginian town of Wheeling was quickly proclaimed the seat of a new government, and Virginia seceded without its western half. When West Virginia entered the Union on June 20, 1863, the only state created directly because of the outbreak of the Civil War, it had to agree to gradual emancipation of slaves already living in the region.
After the coming of the railroads in the 1870's, West Virginia became a center of the timber and coal industries. In Parkersburg in the 1890's, fortunes based on the region's natural resources were made overnight. While some people became fabulously wealthy, the the state's total economic dependance upon the dangerous business of mining became entrenched during those years as well. The town of Cass, built by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, was wild with lumberjacks and buzzing with one of the nation's biggest sawmills by 1910. Strikes broke out in the region however, and in 1912 and 1921 they grew so violent that the National Guard had to be called in to stop them both times.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt experimented with modern social engineering by creating the self-sustaining community of Arthurdale. Today, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory is located at Green Bank, West Virginia. A unique education and research center, the Observatory receives and studies radio waves from space. During the 1960's, the federal government began an Appalachian aid program in West Virginia to supplement the demand for the state's coal, and the energy crisis of the 1970's helped the stateΓÇÖs once downtrodden economy to begin making a comeback.
Visiting the State
Americana Museum, in Terra Alta, has an old fashioned doctor's office, a country store, a carriage house, and a blacksmith shop.
Appalachian Mountains, formerly called "The Endless Mountains," offer skiing, caving, hiking, and rock climbing.
Bluegrass Country Music Festivals, in Summersville.
Many towns offer Civil War battle reenactments including: the reenactment of Lewisburg Civil War Battle of 1862, every June; Civil War General "Stonewall" Jackson's home place and war reenactments, in Clarksburg; the two biggest Civil War battles, in Carnifex Ferry of October, 1861.
Festival at the Indian burial mounds, in South Charleston.
Scenic Glade Creek Grist Mill, at Babcock State Park.
Harper's Ferry features wild game cooking contests, traditional dances, and live blue grass every September, and an 1860's encampment re-creation including political and social scenes, music, and exhibits.
In Cowen, the Historical Railroad Festival features spike driving and coal stoking contests, along with fiddle and banjo contests and square dancing.
Huntington preserved its B & O Railway station and bank allegedly robbed by Jesse James.
Huntington Museum of Art is West Virginia's largest art museum and one of the best regional art museums in the nation.
The town of Marlinton features the old-time mountain culture of bluegrass, fiddle and banjo concerts, square dancing, clogging, crafts, horse and 4x4 pulls, and other country western activities.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in Greenban, listens for signs of life in outer space, one of only four such centers in the world where cosmic history is studied through interstellar impulses captured on radio telescopes.
New Vrindaban Spiritual Community, in Moundville, created "The Palace of Gold," decorating its many rooms with over 40 varieties of marble and onyx, dubbed "America's Taj Mahal" by the New York Times
National Geographic rated Morgan County's Prospect Peak one of the nation's most beautiful spots. It is a site of logging and coal mining and was the setting of John Sayle's movie Matawan
Seneca Caverns, in Riverton, enclose the "Great Ballroom" where Seneca Indian Princess Snow Bird is said to have married a young brave. The caverns are 2,500 feet in elevation.
Smoke Hall Caverns, in Seneca Rocks, are famous for the longest ribbon stalactite in the world, and the second highest room of any known cave. Also featured is the room of "a million stalactites" and a quiet pool in Crystal Cave, where rainbow and golden trout swim.
The town of Waldmore has a stately 19th-century mansion offering West Virginia history and culture, as well as the Gray Barker UFO collection.
Whitewater rafting down the Ohio and Shenandoah Rivers.
Famous West Virginians
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1970) The only American woman to win both the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes for literature. The novel which won her these awards was entitle The Good Earth.
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863) Civil War General who fought for Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army; born in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Anna Jarvis, created Mother's Day in 1908.
Mary Lou Retton, U.S. Olympic Gold winner for gymnastics.
Fascinating Fact
Grafton, West Virginia has an International Mother's Day Shrine to commemorate mothers all over the country and Grafton-native Anna Jarvis, who created the first national Mother's Day on May 10, 1908. Not to be outdone, Fairmont, West Virginia followed suit with Father's Day, first observed at the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, now just simply the Central United Methodist Church, on July 5.
West Virginia adopted its state flag in 1905 and modified it in 1907 and 1929. The flag features the big laurel, the state flower, framing the shield of the state seal, on a white background which is bordered by blue. The hunter and miner appear above the state motto.
