History / Prehistory

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — While the interior of West Virginia remained a virtual wilderness through the late 1800s, wharves along the Ohio River bustled with commerce. Communities such as Wheeling and Parkersburg blossomed into mighty cities. Before the advent of railroads and locks, steamboats plied the river in great numbers, transporting many passengers from the East … Read more

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tucked away in a wooded gorge near the West Virginia Capitol, one of the highest waterfalls in the region also powered one of its first mills. However, its history had faded into obscurity until a rare map led historians to a remarkable manuscript. Though the falls and mill were the source of … Read more

WHEELING, W.Va. — There was a time when Wheeling was being proposed as the location for a new capital of the U.S., though the idea never attracted much interest. Situated at the junction of the Ohio River and the National Road, two of the expanding nation’s most influential travel routes, the burgeoning city was also nearer … Read more

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 threat of banishment to “Pruntytown.” Pruntytown! Any infraction that could not otherwise be dealt with might lead to the mention of the word by adults. For many, the threat … Read more

HUNDRED, W.Va. — There was a time soon after the completion of the B&O Railroad when passengers would clamber to the car windows to catch a glimpse of “Old Hundred.” He was a marvel of a man who, even after his hundredth birthday, labored in his fields to the delight of passersby. The town of … Read more

RICHWOOD, W.Va. — The word “hillbilly” was a The Appalachian Mountains extend across the entire Mountain State, east to west and north to south. (Photo courtesy Rick Burgess.)[/caption] Comstock wrote, “The word is said to have originated as a means of distinguishing people who lived in the mountainous region of the county from those who … Read more

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 near Winfield, West Virginia—more than 400 miles from the family’s Potomac Valley plantations? Historian and environmental geographer Alex Cole says that the cemetery’s elusive past and why the landmark is not … Read more

QUIET DELL, W.Va. — On the morning of March 18, 1932, Harry Powers plummeted through the gallows at the West Virginia Penitentiary and dangled for 11 minutes before being pronounced dead. His body hung limp, his lips still, never revealing his thoughts about the violent murders with which he had been charged. Who was Harry … Read more

THOMAS, W.Va. — The Allegheny Mountains in eastern West Virginia grow treacherous in winter—and hardly more so than along the western front of that range, which bears the brunt of blizzards coming off the Monongahela Valley. In 1885, twenty-year-old James B. Helmick came face-to-face with the savagery of the Alleghenies while hunting on Backbone Mountain. … Read more