The history and prehistory of West Virginia reveal a fascinating journey from ancient Native American cultures to its role in America’s story. Prehistoric sites, such as the Grave Creek Mound, showcase the region’s mound-building cultures that left behind impressive burial mounds and earthworks. Later, European settlers ventured into the rugged Appalachian Mountains, forging frontier communities and thriving amidst challenging terrain. During the American Civil War, West Virginia famously seceded from Virginia to remain loyal to the Union, becoming the 35th state in 1863. Coal mining played a vital role in shaping West Virginia’s economy and identity, fueling America’s industrial growth and leaving a lasting legacy in the state’s communities and culture. Today, visitors can explore historic towns, Civil War battlefields, and preserved pioneer homesteads that tell the rich, enduring story of West Virginia’s resilient spirit and deep mountain roots.
SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — In a ravine beside the U.S. 19 expressway near Summersville Lake, 48 graves lie beneath the trees, marked by small stones. Paddlers and kayakers by the hundreds walk past on their way to the water, rarely pausing at the modest memorial. Few may realize that beneath this quiet ground are the remains … Read more
MOUNTAIN COVE, W.Va. — In a remote wilderness near the New River Gorge in what’s now West Virginia, a mysterious experiment in religion and community emerged in the early 1850s. Known as “Mountain Cove,” the short-lived settlement sought to bridge the earthly and the divine through Christian Spiritualism. Two ministers from New York—James L. Scott … Read more
JOLO, W.Va. — On a warm Sunday in late May 2012, a locally well-known Pentecostal pastor named Mack Wolford invited friends and family to what he billed as “a homecoming like the old days,” a day of music, prayer and the spiritual “signs” drawn from the King James Bible—speaking in tongues, healing by the laying … Read more
MARTINSBURG, W.Va — The prosperous manufacturing town of Martinsburg in Berkeley County, West Virginia, was thrust into turmoil at the outset of the Civil War, and its citizens had to decide where their allegiance lay. As the secession movement gathered steam in Virginia in the early months of 1861, most of the county’s residents opposed … Read more
QUNNIMONT, W.Va. — The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia is a treasure trove of sights, where forested mountain walls conceal ghost towns, industrial ruins, and lost historical gems. An overlooked monument in the gorge Some sights require more effort to find than others, however, though travelers on WV-41 passing through … Read more
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — The eastern panhandle of West Virginia reaches more than 100 miles across the eastern U.S. from the quiet springs of the Potomac River in central West Virginia to the urban edge of Washington, D.C. How did this oddity come to be? More than anything else, according to a resident historian of the … Read more
WEIRTON, W.Va — West Virginia’s remarkable shape is partly defined by its odd northern panhandle, a finger of land that extends northward more than 60 miles from the central region of the state. The early history of the northern panhandle of West Virginia Home to its first capital, at Wheeling, the origins of the northern … Read more
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Mountain State is a land stitched together by rugged mountains, close-knit towns, and a complicated economic past. Yet for generations, one thread has consistently united its people—basketball in West Virginia. The legacy of Jerry West and basketball in West Virginia From the dusty courts of coal camps to the polished hardwood … Read more
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Shaped by rugged mountains and winding rivers, West Virginia has endured some of the most catastrophic floods in American history. Its five worst floods—measured by lives lost, destruction caused, and lasting impact—include the Buffalo Creek Disaster of 1972, where a coal slurry dam failure killed 125 people; the Election Day Floods of … Read more
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — On December 1, 1859, abolitionist John Brown, having been convicted and sentenced to death for planning and executing an uprising in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, delivered a final statement to his jailer that he wished to be shared with the public: The final hours of abolitionist John Brown “I, John Brown, am … Read more
