Then there was the time West Virginia had four governors
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Too much government? As complex as politics in West Virginia, or any other state, might seem today, there was a time...
Word "hillbilly" once a term of endearment in Appalachia
According to some authorities, the word "hillbilly" was a term of endearment in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1800s, though it later developed...
Public invited to open house Oct. 15 at Wyoming County landmark
ITMANN, W.Va. — Foxfire Realty and the Wyoming County Historical Society will host an open house for the public from 10 a.m. until 4...
Mystery surrounds tale of frontier slave who defended fort
LEWISBURG, W.Va. — Settlers who pushed westward across the Alleghenies in the 1700s engaged in a deadly gamble. Despite the threat of attack by...
Museum installing monuments to commemorate Mine Wars
MATEWAN, W.Va. — The first of two monuments commemorating the Battle of Blair Mountain in West Virginia will be installed this weekend in Logan...
Hikers, paddlers can visit New River's lost "Island of the Dead"
THURMOND, W.Va. — Victims of a smallpox pandemic that swept through the New River Gorge in the late 1800s may have been buried in...
Little-known Farley Monument recalls origins of family in W.Va.
PIPESTEM, W.Va.—Of the thousands of people named "Farley" who can claim to hail from southern West Virginia, almost all come from one place —"Old...
Three little-known facts about West Virginia's moundbuilders
The term “moundbuilder” is often used to describe two ancient cultures that archaeologists now know as the Adena and the Hopewell. These peoples lived...
How Pruntytown reformatory became a bogeyman in W.Va.
PRUNTYTOWN, W.Va.—If you were an unruly boy growing up in West Virginia before the 1980s, there's a chance your misbehaviors were met with the...
Devil's Saddle poem tells of girl's meeting with "granny witch"
Throughout the history of Appalachia, one may encounter the legend of granny witches—solitary women believed to possess uncanny powers. Many served in very real...
How the "Tug Fork" in southern West Virginia got its name
WILLIAMSON, W.Va.—Of all the placenames associated with West Virginia, that of the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River may be the subject of...
How the West Virginia town of "Hundred" got its name
HUNDRED, W.Va.—There was a time in the 1850s, soon after completion of the B&O Railroad, when passengers would clamber to the car windows to...
