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...
Visiting the site of one of West Virginia's legendary tragedies
https://youtu.be/R_Kz19WtII8
The tale of the Green-Harrison Tragedy is among the most enduring legends handed down from the settlement of the lower Kanawha Valley region of...
Ancient West Virginia forests once a mosaic of landscapes
Historians once assumed that West Virginia had been shaded by a vast unbroken forest, but an expert on old forests in the Mountain State...
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...
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...
Civil War initiative clarifies Stonewall role at historic tavern
Historians working with a landmark tavern near America's newest national park are clarifying the role of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson at the site, which served...
Mass grave at Lewisburg unique among Confederate monuments
LEWISBURG, W.Va.—Of the many historic landmarks in Lewisburg, perhaps none is more remarkable than a cross-shaped Confederate grave on a hill above the city's...
Civil War-era mystery of Burning Springs remains unsolved
BURNING SPRINGS, W.Va. — Curious motorists traveling the valley of the Little Kanawha River southwest of Parkersburg may or may not stop at historic...
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...
1863 map reveals change in the West Virginia landscape
How has West Virginia changed over the last 150 years? Three counties in the southern state had yet to be created and two had yet...
"Mudwall" Jackson led failed attack on fort in central W.Va.
During the first years of the U.S. Civil War, marauding bands of guerillas roamed the hills in what's now central West Virginia. Most were...
New River Gorge region in W.Va. a classroom for Black History
FAYETTEVILLE, W. Va. — America's newest national park is also a classroom for Black History, says a spokesman for an adventure resort bordering the...
