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Friday, March 29, 2024

History

Welcome to the History news directory at West Virginia Explorer, where you’ll find an archive of the most recent West Virginia history news published at West Virginia Explorer.

Scholars debunk myth of prehistoric giants in West Virginia

An 1907 article in the Wheeling News helped popularize the ancient giants myth.
This month, I had the opportunity to talk with the lead curator at Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex about a prevailing myth in West Virginia...

Thanksgiving Day anniversary was first celebrated in West Virginia

Union soldier Larkin Goldsmith Mead holds a Thanksgiving turkey at Camp Griffin, Virginia, c. 1861.
WHEELING, W.Va. — Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated in West Virginia before being celebrated nationally, thanks to a politician who hoped to provide some...

Scientists say mysterious carvings in W.Va. are native, not Irish

LYNCO, W.Va. — Scientists who are studying ancient carvings in West Virginia say stories that propose a non-native origin for prehistoric landmarks ignore evidence...

Lost W.Va. saltworks known to only a few locals, adventurers

David Sibray inspects stonework in a thicket near the old saltworks.
The legend of the lost Mercer Saltworks near the New River in southern West Virginia may be remembered now by only a few locals...

Historic spring, cabin undetected near busy W.Va. expressway interchange

BECKLEY, W.Va. — A stone's throw from one of the busiest traffic centers in West Virginia, a spring house and one-room cabin are all...

What historians get wrong about frontier heroine Mary Draper Ingles

Mary Draper Ingles is immortalized in bronze at Radford, Virginia.
HINTON, W.Va. — The tale of Mary Draper Ingles—of her escape from Shawnee captors and her return through the mountains—is the ideal American frontier...

Mysteries surround lost Washington graves on Hurricane Creek in W.Va.

FRAZIER'S BOTTOM, W.Va. — How did a great-nephew of George Washington come to be buried in a virtually forgotten graveyard in the Kanawha Valley...

West Virginia mountains kept 1830 cholera pandemic at bay

A steamboat docks at Wheeling, then Virginia, in the 1830s.
Residents of the mountain counties of West Virginia have traditionally weathered the ravages of communicable diseases with some success. Isolation here flattened the peak...

The Great Seal of West Virginia: what its symbols mean

An illustration of the West Virginia Coat of Arms includes elements set for by the state in 1863.
The Great Seal of West Virginia may be as fascinating to some West Virginians as the U.S. dollar bill is for other Americans. It's...

Only ruins remain of Blue Sulphur Springs resort east of Huntington

ONA, W.Va. — In a nondescript woodland along US-60 (with a modern concrete bridge looming in the background) lies the site of what was...

Log cabin researchers encounter rare, mysterious circumstances

A pioneering team of scholars who are dating old log structures in West Virginia has discovered rare, previously undocumented examples of log construction and...

New River Gorge region in W.Va. once a bloody "Wild West"

Montgomery, West Virginia, as it appear about 1910. (Photo: Joe Green Collection)
FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — For millions of tourists, Fayette County and its New River Gorge is a destination for healing and rejuvenation—a wonderland of hiking...

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