Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

• Almost Heaven, West Virginia
• Hills of West Virginia
• Home Sweet Home, West Virginia
• Take Me Home, Country Roads
• Welcome to West Virginia
• West Virginia Hills
• West Virginia Morning
• Wild and Wonderful

Quotes

• The Appalachian hills were aflame in 449 different colors of autumn. (Edward Abbey)
• Come to West Virginia and we'll show you how to live...how to treat people. We're open for business. West Virginia is truly on the move. (Joe Manchin)
• I think family is very important in West Virginia and has long been so because the mountains made travel difficult in the past, and family members had to depend on each other. (David Selby)
• We were growing up in West Virginia. Everybody was poor there in the southern part of the state. It was like growing up in the Great Depression from the stories I hear people tell. Everybody was poor and so we didn't know that we were any different from anybody else. (James Green Somerville)

West Virginia Symbols

• Nicknames: The Mountain State; Switzerland of America; The Panhandle state
• Slogan: Wild and Wonderful
• Motto: Mountaineers are always free
• Colors: gold and blue
• Songs: West Virginia Hills; This is My West Virginia; and West Virginia, My Home
• Dance: Square Dance
• Animal: Black Bear
• Bird: Cardinal
• Butterfly: Monarch Butterfly
• Fish: Brook Trout
• Tree: Sugar Maple
• Flower: Rhododendron (some sites say Big Laurel)
• Gemstone: Chalcedony Coral
• Fruit: Golden Delicious Apple

Facts About West Virginia

• Capital: Charleston
• Residents: West Virginians
• State Name Origin: named after Queen Elizabeth I of England (known as the "Virgin Queen")
• Admitted to Statehood: 20 Jun 1863 (only state to acquire its sovereignty by proclamation of the President)
• Order of Admission: 35th state
• Length: 240 miles
• Width: 130 miles
• Area: 24,230 square miles
• Size Rank: 41
• Number of Counties: 55
• Streams and Rivers: 32,278 miles
• Geographic Center: 4 miles E of Sutton in Braxton Co.
• Mean Elevation: 1,150 feet (highest average altitude east of the Mississippi)
• Highest Point: Spruce Knob, 4,863 feet
• Lowest Point: Potomac River, 240 feet
• Agricultural Products: cattle, hay, apples, peaches, tobacco
• Commercial Products: coal, aluminum, steel, machinery, natural gas, fabricated metal products, auto parts, chemicals, fine glass, commerce services
• Average Annual Rainfall: 40.7 inches
• Average Winter High Temperature: 32 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: -37 degrees (30 Dec 1917 Lewisburg)
• Average Summer High Temperature: 80 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 112 degrees (10 Jul 1936 Martinsburg)
• Official Language: English
• More information about West Virginia

from West Virginia Hills

(words by Mrs. Ellen King, music by H. E. Engle)

Oh, the West Virginia hills!
How majestic and how grand,
With their summits bathed in glory,
Like our Prince Immanuel's Land!
Is it any wonder then,
That my heart with rapture thrills,
As I stand once more with loved ones
On those West Virginia hills?

CHORUS:
Oh, the hills, beautiful hills,
How I love those West Virginia hills!
If o'er sea o'er land I roam,
Still I'll think of happy home,
And my friends among the West Virginia hills.

Oh, the West Virginia hills!
Where my childhood hours were passed,
Where I often wandered lonely,
And the future tried to cast;
Many are our visions bright,
Which the future ne'er fulfills;
But how sunny were my daydreams
On those West Virginia hills!
(repeat chorus)

Oh, the West Virginia hills!
How unchang'd they seem to stand,
With their summits pointed skyward
To the Great Almighty's Land!
Many changes I can see,
Which my heart with sadness fills;
But no changes can be noticed
In those West Virginia hills.
(repeat chorus)

Items of Interest

• The first brick street in the world was laid in Charleston, October 23, 1870, on Summers Street, between Kanawha and Virginia Streets.
• WV was the first state to have a sales tax. It became effective July 1, 1921.
• John S. Gallaher published the "Ladies Garland," on 14 Feb 1824 at Harpers Ferry. It was one of the first papers in the nation devoted mainly to the interests of women.
• WV is considered the southern-most northern state and the northern-most southern state.
• Mother's Day was first observed at Andrews Church in Grafton on May 10, 1908.
• WV has the oldest population of any state. The median age is 40.
• Jackson's Mill is the site of the first 4-H Camp in the United States.
• The world's largest sycamore tree is located on the Back Fork of the Elk River in Webster Springs.
• The first U.S. federal prison exclusively for women was opened in 1926 in WV.
• The New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville is the longest steel arch bridge (1,700 feet) in the world.
• The first major land battle in the Civil War was the Battle of Philippi on June 3, 1861.
• Nearly 75 percent of West Virginia is covered by forests.
• West Virginia had the lowest crime rate in the country in 1997.
• The first rural free mail delivery was started in Charles Town on October 6, 1896.
• The Golden Delicious apple originated in Clay County. The original Grimes Golden Apple Tree was discovered in 1775 near Wellsburg.

Notable Natives

Some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

• George Brett (1953- ) - baseball player with the KC Royals (Glendale)
• Bailey Brown - first Union soldier killed in the Civil War, died May 22, 1861, at Fetterman, Taylor County
• Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) - author, best known for The Good Earth (Hillsboro)
• Alexander Campbell - started the Christian Church in Bethany
• Phillis Curtin - soprano (Clarksburg)
• Joanne Dru - actress (Logan)
• Mrs. Minnie Buckingham Harper - appointed to the House of Delegates in 1928, first African American woman to be a member of a legislative body in the U.S.
• Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863) - Confederate general (Clarksburg)
• John S. Knight - publisher (Bluefield)
• Don Knotts (1924- ) - actor (Morgantown)
• Peter Marshall - television host (Huntington)
• Chester Merriman - the youngest soldier of WWI, having enlisted at the age of fourteen (born in Romney)
• Alfred Moore - supreme court justice (Molinosville)
• Kathy Mattea (1959- ) - country music singer (South Charleston)
• Mary Lou Retton (1968- ) - Olympic gymnastic gold medal winner (Fairmont)
• Walter Reuther (1907-1970) - labor leader (Wheeling)
• Eleanor Steber - soprano, Wheeling)
• Lewis L. Strauss - scientist, naval officer (Charleston)
• Cyrus Vance - government official, attorney (Clarksburg)
• Harold Tucker Webster (1885-1952) - cartoonist (Parkersburg)
• Jerry West (1938- ) - basketball player (Cabin Creek)
• Chuck Yeager (1923- ) - test pilot, first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound, Air Force general (Myra)
• Steve Yeager (1948- ) - baseball player (Huntington)

The West Virginia State Flag
The flag is white with a dark blue border and a picture in the center similar to the state seal. There is a large rock (symbolizing strength and stability) with the date of statehood. The men represent farming and mining. Below them are rifles with a "Liberty Cap" on top (to signify the state will defend liberty). A red banner has the state motto "Mountaineers Are Always Free". Around the picture are rhododendrons. Above the picture is the state name on a red ribbon.

You know a computer is owned by a West Virginian if...

• The mouse is referred to as a 'critter'.
• The keyboard is camouflaged.
• There is a Skoal can in the CD-ROM drive.
• There is a gunrack mounted on the CPU.
• The password is, "bubba."
• Outgoing faxes have beer stains on them.
• The extra RAM slots have Dodge truck parts installed in them.
• The menus all have Budweiser, Black Label, and Old Milwaukee options.
• Jeff Foxworthy *.wavs.
• The monitor is up on blocks.
• Five blue tick hounds under the desk.
• Deer jerky is in the desk drawer.
• The Ned Beatty screen saver with dueling banjos playing in the background.
• John Deere pocket protectors.

Songs about West Virginia

• Girl From West Virginia - Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (2005)
• Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia - Emmylou Harris (1979)
• Hills of West Virginia, The - Phil Ochs (1965)
• Home Sweet Home, West Virginia - Leonard Stalnaker (2005)
• Leaving West Virginia - Kathy Mattea (1989)
• Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver (1971)
• To You and My West Virginia Home - The Westernaires (1941)
• West Virginia Choose Me - Colleen Anderson (2005)
• West Virginia Fantasies - Chicago (1970)
• West Virginia Friend - Holly Near (2002)
• West Virginia Girl - Gary Lee Vincent (1993)
• West Virginia Hills - Jim Truman (2005)
• West Virginia Man - David Allan Coe (1982)
• West Virginia Morning - Jan Haddox (2005)
• West Virginia, My Home - Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard (1975)
• West Virginia Waltz - Clyde Moody (1951)
• West Virginia Woman - Billy Edd Wheeler (1969)
• When I Go to West Virginia - Atwater-Donnelly (1999)

Songs about Wheeling

• Cold Rainy Morning in Wheeling - The Boys from Indiana (1985)
• Goodbye, Wheeling - Mel Tillis (1967)
• Wheeling, West Virginia - Neil Sedaka (1970)