Welcome to West Virginia

West Virginia is unique. It’s refreshing.  It’s “Almost Heaven”.  If you’re looking for big cities, extravagant shopping, and urbanized utopias, you will be sorely disappointed, but if you’d like to experience breathtaking countryside, endless recreation including skiing and whitewater rafting, great Italian dining, and football games with insanely passionate fans, then take a trip down those country roads.

West Virginia, Wild and Wonderful

When you visit WV, you become immersed in different culture—one where the Mountaineers are more than just the home team. They are a representation of the entire State of West Virginia, a place unlike any other when it comes to the importance of college sports. There are no professional teams of any kind—college is everything. And while that may be true of places like Alabama, West Virginia has no Auburn to create a divide in the fan base. Sure, there's Marshall, but it's common to find even those in Huntington rooting for the Mountaineers. Everyone cheers for WVU because it is an extension of the state that we love and are proud to represent. Too often is West Virginia the butt end of crude and unfair stereotypical judgement. Because of that, West Virginians have an "us against the world" mentality, and we always have each other's back. It's the reason we perform best as the underdog. The Mountaineers are a way for the state to showcase who we really are and what we can achieve. Wins and losses are about more than just a game, and that leads to an intense, loyal fan base who share a common bond of being proud West Virginians.
Because the school and state are so intricately intertwined, it is impossible to understand one without exploring the other. This guide provides a glimpse of some of the things that are uniquely West Virginian.  Be sure to watch the video below for great visuals and a short introduction.

West Virginia State Facts

Population:

We’re a small state with about 1.9 million. That means there’s plenty of beautiful, unspoiled wilderness open for exploration. All of the green on the map represents less than 50 people per square mile. 

Largest Cities:

Charleston, WV

West Virginia is one of only a few states that have no large cities. Its population is spread out over rural communities and small to mid-sized cities. Here are a few of the larger ones:

Charleston (51k), Huntington (49k), Parkersburg (30k), Morgantown (30k), Wheeling (29k), Weirton (20k), Fairmont (19k)

Interesting note: the daytime population estimate for Morgantown with students and businesses is 70,000 to 90,000, making it the largest population center in the state while WVU is in session. In addition, Mountaineer Field becomes the largest “city” in the state on game days.

Capital: Charleston

Nickname: The Mountain State

Colors: Old Gold and Blue (also the colors of WVU).

State Flag:

State Seal:

Official Motto: Montani semper liberi (Mountaineers Are Always Free)

Slogans: “Wild and Wonderful”, “Almost Heaven”

Industries: Coal, oil, gas, forestry, manufacturing, steel, glass, chemicals, and tourism. West Virginia is known for it's coal industry that has produced over 13 billion tons of coal since the state's inception.

Official Songs:

West Virginia has three official state songs, which is quite unusual.

“The West Virginia Hills”. (Alternate rendition with words)

“This is My West Virginia”
“West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home”

Unofficial Songs:

“Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver

John Denver helped break in Mountaineer Field during its opening ceremonies on September 6, 1980:

“My Home Among the Hills”. This song’s lyrics most closely depict the natural beauty of the state in our opinion.

WV Trivia

Secession:
West Virginia is the only state to separate from another state, and the legality of that move was questioned due to the following statement in the Constitution, Article 4, Section 3: "...no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislature of the states concerned, as well as of the congress." Because this occurred during the Civil War, President Lincoln declared West Virginia's statehood because of it's desire to rejoin the Union and split with Virginia. You can read more here.

Jerry West, NBA Logo and Lakers Star

Notable Natives:
Jerry West (The NBA Logo)
Mary Lou Retton (Olympic Gold Medalist)
Randy Moss

Mary Lou Retton

Lou Holtz
Nick Saban

Rich Rodriguez
Bob Huggins
Brad Paisley (Country Singer)
Don Knotts (Actor, Andy Griffith Show)
Stonewall Jackson
Chuck Yeager (First to break sound barrier)
Jennifer Garner (Actress)
Johnnie "Johnny B. Goode" Johnson
Pearl S. Buck (first American woman to win Nobel Prize in Literature)
Originated in WV:
Mother's Day
Father's Day
State sales tax
Pepperoni Rolls

Other Facts:
West Virginia was nearly named "Kanawha".

WVU and Pitt played the first football game ever broadcast on the radio (1921, KDKA).

West Virginia and Kentucky are the sites of the most famous American family feud, the Hatfields and McCoys.

After the Cold War was over, the Washington Post revealed that underneath the Greenbrier resort at White Sulphur Springs, WV the U.S. government had kept secret a massive two-story bunker to house the United States Congress for forty days in the event of a nuclear attack.

WV Misconceptions

Western Virginia

West Virginia is a state, and it's not part of Virginia! June 20, 1863. Civil War. 50 states. Do these ring a bell? If not, go back to middle school. Apparently, that includes Brad Nessler. But seriously, how do people overlook such a uniquely shaped state on the map? I guess Miss South Carolina was right...we need more maps. 

WV is Southern, right?

In short, no one really knows. There are groups who conflictingly claim that WV is Southern, Northern, Eastern, and Mid-Western. There are many factors that add to this confusion. While most of the state is to the South, (below the Mason-Dixon Line) WV’s panhandle extends north into Ohio and Pennsylvania. It is also difficult to classify a state as Southern when it seceded from Virginia during the Civil War to to become part of the Union. Here's a famous quote from the late Senator Robert C. Byrd: 

"Its boundaries extend farther north than Pittsburgh, farther south than Richmond -- the capital of the Old Confederacy -- as far east as Buffalo, New York, and as far west as Columbus, Ohio. It is the most southern of the northern and the most northern of the southern; the most eastern of the western and the most western of the eastern. It is where the East says good morning to the West, and where Yankee Doodle and Dixie kiss each other good night!" 

Stereotypes

We don’t need to list them, and you don’t need to use them.  Every state has them, and there’s always someone who will reinforce them.  But we are here to tell you that those people are the exceptions, not just here in West Virginia, but everywhere. Stereotypes, for the most part, are just ignorant and gross generalizations of the worst representatives of a group. Let’s leave them behind.

Now that you’ve discovered what the state of West Virginia is like, it’s time to take a closer look at its flagship university.  Welcome to the Mountain State!

Up next: West Virginia University
Or back to the guide.