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Culture

Welcome to the Culture news directory at West Virginia Explorer. Follow along as we explore the diverse cultures that have come to define the West Virginia experience.

Could this pirate's treasure on the Ohio River be lost for...

Frontier boatman ply the Ohio River in western West Virginia.
Until just after the Civil War, large parts of the valley of the Ohio River in what's now West Virginia were controlled by pirates....

"Graveyard of the Ohio" now a favorite water recreation hub

A kayaker plies the gentle Ohio River near Parkersburg, West Virginia, once the site of the infamous Graveyard of the Ohio.
To see it now, a visitor might hardly guess the Ohio River at Parkersburg was a stretch of river that many boat captains feared....

Ominous "McKinley Rock" attracts sightseers in New River Gorge

David Sibray points to the profile of President William McKinley, blasted into a cliff near Thurmond in 1901.
NEWLYN, W.Va. — High above the ghost town of Thurmond, West Virginia, the frowning stone profile of a man silently watches over the New...

Revisiting the tale of West Virginia's lost Branch Mountain Treasure

Helmick Rock on South Branch Mountain
MOOREFIELD, W.Va. — Tales of hidden treasure appear throughout the annals of West Virginia history. The legends of hoards buried by prehistoric peoples, retreating...

Old legend of Strange Creek might never be confirmed

STRANGE CREEK, W.Va. — Too much time may have passed to confirm anything of the indomitable legend of Strange Creek, long among the most...

The horrors of Skull Run recounted by late West Virginia historian

SKULL RUN, W.Va. — A traveler motoring through the pastures in this wooded section off the Ohio River might have little idea of the...

Mountain speech may still be heard in rural West Virginia

New River from Beauty Mountain by Rick Burgess, Fayette County, New River Gorge Region
Though its speakers are aging and declining in number, there are still places in West Virginia where folks speak in what's known as the...

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...

Ted Fauster: Meet the top five monsters from the West Virginia...

Mothman by Ted Fauster
In the late 1990s, I was asked to pen a book of West Virginia folklore. I opted instead to create my own tales based...

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.
THURMOND, W.Va. — Perhaps no small town in West Virginia has gained the worldwide notoriety that the tiny Town of Thurmond has enjoyed. A...

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