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Thursday, December 7, 2023

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.

Struggle for religious freedom in U.S. unfolds in tale of Eckerlins

A historic marker along the Cheat River recalls the settlement of Dunkards in the mid-1700s.
DUNKARD BOTTOM, W.Va. — The history of West Virginia is filled with stories of religious diversity — of hermits and prophets who escaped the...

Civil War-era mystery of Burning Springs remains unsolved

Visitors gather at Burning Springs Park.
BURNING SPRINGS, W.Va. — Curious motorists traveling the valley of the Little Kanawha River southwest of Parkersburg may or may not stop at historic...

Ancient West Virginia forests once a mosaic of landscapes

Forests in what became West Virginia were managed in ways we're only beginning to understand.
Historians once assumed that West Virginia had been shaded by a vast unbroken forest, but an expert on old forests in the Mountain State...

Rare memoir recalls national park before Thurmond ghost town

Riding horseback, Captain William Thurmond was a familiar site in the New River Gorge.
Perhaps no small town in West Virginia has gained the worldwide notoriety that the tiny Town of Thurmond has enjoyed. A ghost town located...

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...

Bizzare 'Wild West' massacre erupted in Cowen, W.Va., in 1905

Richwood, West Virginia (WV) in 1910 was the center of a booming timber industry.
Cowen today is a sleepy town of 500, perhaps best known for its location near a quiet lake, but it was hardly so in...

Wolf Moon recalls W.Va. as last domain of wolves

The Wolf Moon customarily rises over the West Virginia hills in January.
The Wolf Moon of January recalls a time when the howls of wolves haunted the Mountain State, the final eastern stronghold in the U.S....

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...

Open house set at historic Dunlap farm, cemetery

The Dunlap farmhouse appears much as it did in 1830.
Historians and history buffs are invited to an open house at the historic Dunlap farm and cemetery at Red Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in...

Civil War initiative clarifies Stonewall role at historic tavern

Installing the new signboard from left to right are David Sibray, Becky Sullivan, Dr. Scott Keffer, and Randy Burdette.
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...

Mother's Day: the holiday Anna Jarvis created — then tried to...

Anna Jarvis, of Grafton, West Virginia, created Mother's Day and then tried to end it.
More than a century has passed since West Virginia native Anna Jarvis planned the first Mother's Day service, and the second Sunday of May...

Prehistoric W.Va. was NOT an "uninhabited hunting ground"

Iroquoian-style pipe discovered at the Marmet archaeological site (46-KA-9). (Provided by Darla Spencer)
Editor's Note: School children in West Virginia down through the years were taught that the Mountain State before the arrival of Europeans had been...

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