West Virginia
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West Virginia is a state of the United States in the region of Appalachia, generally known as The Mountain State. West Virginia broke away from the Commonwealth of Virginia during the American Civil War and was admitted to the Union as a separate state on June 20, 1863.
The Census Bureau considers West Virginia part of the South because of its location below the Mason-Dixon Line, although the state's Northern Panhandle extends farther north than Staten Island, New York and Jersey City, New Jersey and even though the USGS designates it as a Mid-Atlantic state. Many in the state's Northern Panhandle and North-Central region feel an affinity for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while those in the Eastern Panhandle feel a connection with the Washington, D.C. suburbs in western Maryland and Virginia and southern West Virginians often consider themselves southerners. The state is noted for its timber and coal mining heritage and labor union organizing mine wars in particular.
The state has a rich, lush beauty reflecting its temperate topography. Tourist sites include the New River Gorge Bridge,<ref>The New River Gorge Bridge is one of just two US sites which have granted explicit permission for BASE jumping. This occurs each year on the third Saturday in October, known as "Bridge Day". Bridge Day website, accessed January 17, 2006.</ref> Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and many state parks. The Greenbrier hotel and resort, originally built in 1778, has long been considered a premier hotel frequented by numerous world leaders and U.S. Presidents over the years. West Virginia is also home to the Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
West Virginia's U.S. postal abbreviation is WV, and its Associated Press abbreviation is W.Va.
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Geography
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Image:WV plateau.jpg West Virginia is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, by Ohio to the north and west, by Kentucky to the west, by Maryland to the north and east, and by Virginia to the east and south. The Ohio and Potomac rivers form parts of the boundaries.
West Virginia is the only state in the nation located entirely within the Appalachian Mountain range, and in which all areas are mountainous; for this reason it is nicknamed The Mountain State. About 75% of the state is within the Cumberland and Allegheny Plateaus regions. Though the relief is not high, the plateau region is extremely rugged in most areas. Image:Spruce Knob.jpg On the southeastern state line with Virginia, high peaks in the Monongahela National Forest region give rise to an island of colder climate and ecosystems similar to those of northern New England and eastern Canada. The highest point in the state is atop Spruce Knob, which at 4,863 feet (1482 m) is covered in a boreal forest of dense spruce trees at altitudes above 4,000 feet (1,220 m). Spruce Knob lies within the Monongahela National Forest and is a part of the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area. [1] A total of six wilderness areas can also be found within the forest. Outside the forest to the south, the New River Gorge is a 1,000 feet (304 m) canyon carved by the New River. The National Park Service manages a portion of the gorge and river which has been designated as the New River Gorge National River, one of only 15 rivers in the U.S. with this level of protection.
The native vegetation for most of the state was originally mixed hardwood forest of oak, chestnut, maple, beech, and white pine, with willow and American sycamore along the state's waterways. Many of the areas are rich in biodiversity and scenic beauty, a fact that is appreciated by native West Virginians, who refer to their home as Almost Heaven.
The underlying rock strata are sandstones, shales, bituminous coal beds, and limestones laid down in a near shore environment from sediments derived from mountains to the east, in a shallow inland sea on the west. Some beds illustrate a coastal swamp environment, some river delta, some shallow water. Sea level rose and fell many times during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian eras, giving a variety of rock strata. The Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest on Earth having been formed over 300 million years ago.
History
Prehistory
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The area now known as West Virginia was a favorite hunting ground of numerous Native American peoples before the arrival of European settlers. Many ancient man-made earthen mounds from various mound builder cultures survive, especially in the areas of Moundsville, South Charleston, and Romney. Although little is known about these civilizations, the artifacts uncovered give evidence of a complex, stratified culture that practiced metalurgy.
European exploration and settlement
Image:ThomasLEE.JPG In 1671, General Abram Wood, at the direction of Royal Governor William Berkeley of the Virginia Colony, sent a party which discovered Kanawha Falls. In 1716, Governor Alexander Spotswood with about thirty horsemen made an excursion into what is now Pendleton County. John Van Metre, an Indian trader, penetrated into the northern portion in 1725. The same year German settlers from Pennsylvania founded New Mecklenburg, the present Shepherdstown, on the Potomac River, and others followed.
King Charles II of England, in 1661, granted to a company of gentlemen the land between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, known as the Northern Neck. The grant finally came into the possession of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and in 1746 a stone was erected at the source of the North Branch Potomac River to mark the western limit of the grant. A considerable part of this land was surveyed by George Washington between 1748 and 1751. The diary kept by the surveyor indicates that there were already many squatters, largely of German origin, along the South Branch Potomac River. Christopher Gist, a surveyor in the employ of the first Ohio Company, which was composed chiefly of Virginians, explored the country along the Ohio River north of the mouth of the Kanawha River between 1751 and 1752. The company sought to have a fourteenth colony established with the name Vandalia. Many settlers crossed the mountains after 1750, though they were hindered by Native American depredations. Presumably, few Native Americans lived within the present limits of the state, but the region was a common hunting ground, crossed also by many war trails. During the French and Indian War the scattered settlements were almost destroyed. In 1774, the Crown Governor of Virginia, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, led a force over the mountains, and a body of militia under General Andrew Lewis dealt the Shawnee Indians under Cornstalk a crushing blow during the Battle of Point Pleasant at the junction of the Kanawha and the Ohio rivers. Native American attacks continued until after the American Revolutionary War. During the war the settlers in Western Virginia were generally active Whigs and many served in the Continental Army.
Trans-Allegheny Virginia, 1776-1861
Template:Details Social conditions in western Virginia were entirely unlike those in the eastern portion of the state. The population was not homogeneous, as a considerable part of the immigration came by way of Pennsylvania and included Germans, Protestant Ulster-Scots, and settlers from the states farther north. During the American Revolution the movement to create a state beyond the Alleghanies was revived and a petition for the establishment of "Westsylvania" was presented to Congress, on the ground that the mountains made an almost impassable barrier on the east. The rugged nature of the country made slavery unprofitable, and time only increased the social, political and economic differences between the two sections of Virginia.
The convention which met in 1829 to form a new constitution for Virginia, against the protest of the counties beyond the mountains, required a property qualification for suffrage, and gave the slave-holding counties the benefit of three-fifths of their slave population in apportioning the state's representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. As a result every county beyond the Alleghanies except one voted to reject the constitution, which nevertheless passed due to eastern support. Though the Virginia constitution of 1850 provided for white male suffrage, the distribution of representation among the counties continued to give control to the section east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Another grievance of the West was the large expenditure for internal improvements at state expense by the Virginia Board of Public Works in the East compared with the scanty proportion allotted to the West.
Separation from Virginia
Template:Main Image:Carlilejohn.jpg In 1861, only nine of the forty-six delegates from the area located in present state of West Virginia voted to secede. Almost immediately after the vote to proceed with secession prevailed in the Virginia General Assembly, a mass meeting at Clarksburg recommended that each county in north-western Virginia send delegates to a convention to meet in Wheeling on May 13, 1861. When this First Wheeling Convention met, four hundred and twenty-five delegates from twenty-five counties were present, but soon there was a division of sentiment. Some delegates favored the immediate formation of a new state, while others argued that, as Virginia's had not yet been passed by the required referendum, or become effective, such action would constitute revolution against the United States.<ref> The United States Constitution provides that no state may be divided without its consent.</ref> It was decided that if the ordinance was adopted (of which there was little doubt) another convention including the members-elect of the legislature should meet at Wheeling in June. At the election (May 23, 1861) secession was ratified by a large majority in the state as a whole, but in the western counties 40,000 votes out of 44,000 were cast against it.
The Second Wheeling Convention met as agreed on June 11 and declared that, since the Secession Convention had been called without the consent of the people, all its acts were void, and that all who adhered to it had vacated their offices. An act for the reorganization of the government was passed on June 19. The next day Francis H. Pierpont was chosen governor of Virginia, other officers were elected and the convention adjourned. The legislature, composed of the members from the western counties who had been elected on May 23 and some of the holdover senators who had been elected in 1859, met at Wheeling on July 1, filled the remainder of the state offices, organized a state government and elected two United States senators who were recognized at Washington, D.C. At that point, therefore, there were two state governments in Virginia, one owning allegiance to the United States and one to the Confederacy.
The Wheeling Convention, which had taken a recess until August 6, then reassembled (August 20) and called for a popular vote on the formation of a new state and for a convention to frame a constitution if the vote should be favorable. At the election (October 24, 1861) 18,489 votes were cast for the new state and only 781 against. The convention began on November 26, 1861 and finished its work on February 18, 1862, and the instrument was ratified (18,162 for and 514 against) on April 11, 1862. Image:Harper's Ferry seen from Maryland side of Potomac River.jpg On May 13, the state legislature of the reorganized government approved the formation of the new state. An application for admission to the Union was made to Congress, and on December 31, 1862 an enabling act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln admitting West Virginia, on the condition that a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted in the Constitution. The Convention was reconvened on February 12, 1863, and the demand was met. The revised constitution was adopted on March 26, 1863, and on April 20, 1863 President Lincoln issued a proclamation admitting the state at the end of sixty days (June 20, 1863). Meanwhile officers for the new state were chosen and Governor Pierpont removed his capital to Alexandria where he asserted jurisdiction over the counties of Virginia within the Federal lines.
The question of the constitutionality of the formation of the new state was brought before the Supreme Court of the United States in the following manner: Berkeley and Jefferson counties lying on the Potomac east of the mountains, in 1863, with the consent of the Reorganized government of Virginia voted in favor of annexation to West Virginia. Many voters absent in the Confederate Army when the vote was taken refused to acknowledge the transfer upon their return. The Virginia General Assembly repealed the act of secession and in 1866 brought suit against West Virginia asking the court to declare the counties a part of Virginia. Meanwhile Congress on March 10, 1866 passed a joint resolution recognizing the transfer. The Supreme Court in 1871 decided in favor of West Virginia, and there has been no further question.
During the American Civil War, West Virginia suffered comparatively little. McClellan's forces gained possession of the greater part of the territory in the summer of 1861, and Union control was never seriously threatened, in spite of the attempt by Robert E. Lee in the same year. In 1863 General John D. Imboden, with 5,000 Confederates, overran a considerable portion of the state. Bands of guerrillas burned and plundered in some sections, and were not entirely suppressed until after the war was ended.Image:FirstConfederateMemorial.JPG
The area which became West Virginia furnished about 36,000 soldiers to the Federal armies and somewhat less than 10,000 to the Confederate. The absence in the army of the Confederate sympathizers helps to explain the small vote against the formation of the new state. During the war and for years afterwards partisan feelings ran high. The property of Confederates might be confiscated, and in 1866 a constitutional amendment disfranchising all who had given aid and comfort to the Confederacy was adopted. The addition of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution caused a reaction, the Democratic party secured control in 1870, and in 1871 the constitutional amendment of 1866 was abrogated. The first steps toward this change had been taken, however, by the Republicans in 1870. In 1872 an entirely new constitution was adopted (August 22).
Beginning in Reconstruction, and for several decades thereafter, the two states disputed the new state's share of the pre-war Virginia government's debt, which had mostly been incurred to finance public infrastructure improvements, such as canals, roads, and railroads under the Virginia Board of Public Works. Virginians led by former Confederate General William Mahone formed a political coalition which was based upon this theory, the Readjuster Party. Although West Virginia's first constitution provided for the assumption of a part of the Virginia debt, negotiations opened by Virginia in 1870 were fruitless, and in 1871, that state funded two-thirds of the debt and arbitrarily assigned the remainder to West Virginia. The issue was finally settled in 1915, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,929.50. The final installment of this sum was paid off in 1939.
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Hidden resources
Template:Expandsect The new state benefited from development of its mineral resources more than any other single economic activity after Reconstruction. Salt mining had been underway since the 18th century, though it had largely played out by the time of the American Civil War, when the red salt of Kanawha County was a valued commodity of first Confederate, and later Union forces. There was a greater treasure not yet developed, however, that would fuel much of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. and steamships of many of the world's navies.
The residents (both Native Americans and early European settlers) had long-known of the underlying coal, and the fact that it could be used for heating and fuel. However, very small "personal" mines were the only practical development. After the War, with the new railroads came a practical method to transport large quantities of coal to expanding U.S. and export markets. As the anthracite mines of northwestern New Jersey and Pennsylvania began to play out during this same time period, investors and industrialists focused new interest in West Virginia. Geologists such as Dr. David T. Ansted surveyed potential coal fields and invested in land and early mining projects.
The completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) across the state to the new city of Huntington on the Ohio River in 1872 opened access to the New River Coal Field. Soon, the C&O was building its huge coal pier at Newport News, Virginia on the large harbor of Hampton Roads. In 1881, the new Philadelphia-based owners of the former Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O) which stretched across Virginia's southern tier from Norfolk, had sights clearly set on the Mountain State, where the owners had large land holdings. Their railroad was renamed Norfolk and Western (N&W), and a new railroad city was developed at Roanoke to handle planned expansion. After its new President Frederick J. Kimball and a small party journeyed by horseback and saw firsthand the rich bituminous coal seam which his wife named "Pocahontas," the N&W redirected its planned westward expansion to reach it. Soon, the N&W was also shipping from new coal piers at Hampton Roads.
In the northern portion of the state and elsewhere, the older Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) and other lines also expanded to take advantage of coal opportunities as well. By 1900, only a large area of the most rugged terrain of southern West Virginia was any distance from the existing railroads and mining activity.
Beginning in 1898, Dr. Ansted's protégé William Nelson Page, a civil engineer and mining manager in Fayette County, teamed with investors to take advantage of the undeveloped area. They acquired large tracts of land in the area, and Page began the Deepwater Railway, a short-line railroad which was chartered to stretch between the C&O at its line along the Kanawha River and the N&W at Matoaka, a distance of about 80 miles. Although the Deepwater plan should have provided a competitive shipping market via either railroad, leaders of the two large railroads did not appreciate the scheme. In secret collusion, each declined to negotiate favorable rates with Page, nor did they offer to purchase his railroad, as they had many other short-lines. However, if the C&O and N&W presidents thought they could thus kill the Page project, they were to be proved mistaken.
One of the silent partner investors Page had enlisted was millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers, a principal in John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust and an old hand at competitive "warfare" with deep pockets. Instead of giving up, Page (and Rogers) quietly planned and then built their tracks all the way east to across Virginia, using Rogers' private fortune to finance the $40 million cost. When the renamed Virginian Railway was completed in 1909, no less than three railroads were shipping ever-increasing volumes of coal to export from Hampton Roads. West Virginia coal was also under high demand at Great Lakes ports as well.
As coal mining and related work became a major employment activities in the state, there was considerable labor strife as working conditions and safety issues, as well as economics arose. Even in the 21st century, mining safety and ecological concerns were challenging to the state whose coal continued to power electrical generating plants in many other states.
Demographics
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As of 2005, West Virginia has an estimated population of 1,816,856, which is an increase of 4,308, or 0.2%, from the prior year and an increase of 8,506, or 0.5%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural decrease since the last census of 3,296 people (that is 108,292 births minus 111,588 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 14,209 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 3,691 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 10,518 people.
Only 1.1% of the state's residents were foreign-born, placing West Virginia last among the 50 states in that statistic. It has the lowest percentage of residents that speak a language other than English in the home (2.7%).
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 94.7% White non-Hispanic
- 3.1% Black
- 0.7% Hispanic
- 0.5% Asian
- 0.2% Native American
- 0.9% Mixed race
The five largest ancestry groups in West Virginia are: American (23.2%), German (17.2%), Irish (13.5%), English (12%), Italian (4.8%).
Many West Virginians identify their ancestry as "American." It is the largest reported ancestry in most counties in the state, and the state has the highest percentage of residents of "American ancestry" in the nation. This choice often corresponds to Scots-Irish heritage.
Large numbers of people of German ancestry are present in the northeastern counties of the state.
5.6% of West Virginia's population were reported as under 5, 22.3% under 18, and 15.3% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.4% of the population.
Economy
[[Category:{{{1|}}} articles with sections needing expansion]]Image:Coalseam 8618.JPG The economy of West Virginia is one of the most fragile of any U.S. state. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, West Virginia is the third lowest in per capita income [2], ahead of only Arkansas and Mississippi. It also ranks last in median household income.[3] The proportion of West Virginia's adult population with a bachelor's degree is the lowest in the U.S. at 15.3%.[4]
One of the major resources in West Virginia's economy is coal. West Virginia also engaged in drilling oil, but currently only has small/medium sized scatter natural gas fields. Farming is also practiced in West Virginia.
West Virginia is an alcoholic beverage control state. However, unlike most such states, it does not operate retail outlets, having exited that business in 1990. It retains a monopoly on wholesaling of distilled spirits only.
Transportation
Image:NewRiverGorgeBridgeWV.jpg Template:Main
West Virginia is crossed by several interstate highways. I-64 enters the state near White Sulphur Springs in the mountainous east, and exits for Kentucky in the west, near Huntington. I-77 enters from Virginia in the south, near Bluefield. It runs north past Parkersburg before it crosses into Ohio. I-64 and I-77 are merged in a stretch of toll road known as the West Virginia Turnpike, on which construction began in 1952. It runs from just east of Charleston south to the exit for Princeton. I-68's western terminus is in Morgantown. From there it runs east into Maryland. I-79 enters from Pennsylvania and runs through the state to its southern terminus in Charleston. I-70 also briefly runs through West Virginia, crossing the northern panhandle through Wheeling.
Rail lines in the state used to be more prevalent, but many lines have been discontinued due to increased automobile traffic. Many old tracks have been converted to rail trails for recreational use, and the state is still served by a few commercial lines for hauling coal and by Amtrak.
Due to the mountainous nature of the entire state, West Virginia has several notable tunnels and bridges. The most famous of these is the New River Gorge Bridge, which was at a time the longest steel-arch bridge in the world with a 924m span. The bridge is also pictured on the West Virginia state quarter.
[[Category:{{{1|}}} articles with sections needing expansion]]Law and government
[[Category:{{{1|}}} articles with sections needing expansion]]West Virginia's capital and seat of government is the city of Charleston, located in the southwest area of the state.
Legislative Branch
Template:See The West Virginia Legislature is bicameral, consisting of the House of Delegates and the Senate. It is a citizen's legislature, meaning that legislative office is not a full-time occupation, but rather a part-time position. Consequently, the legislators often hold a full-time job in their community of residence.
Typically, the legislature is in session for 60 days between January and early April. The final day of the regular session ends in a bewildering fury of last-minute legislation in order to meet a constitutionally imposed deadline of midnight. During the remainder of the year, legislators gather periodically for 'special' sessions when called by the governor.
Executive Branch
Image:Joe Manchin official portrait.jpg Template:See The governor is elected every four years, on the same day as the president, sworn in during January. The current governor, inaugurated in 2005 is Democrat Joe Manchin.
Judicial Branch
West Virginia is one of twelve states that does not have a death penalty for any crime.
For the purpose of courts of general jurisdiction, the state is divided into 31 judicial circuits. Each circuit is made up of one or more counties. Circuit Judges are elected in partisan elections to serve eight-year terms.
West Virginia’s highest court is the Supreme Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the busiest appellate court of its type in the United States. West Virginia is one of 11 states with a single appellate court. The state constitution allows for the creation of an intermediate court of appeals, but the Legislature has never created one. The Supreme Court is made up of five justices, elected in partisan elections to 12-year terms.
Politics
Image:Capitolbuilding.jpg Template:Main From the 1930s through the 1990s, West Virginia's politics were largely dominated by the Democratic Party, and Democrats still dominate most local and state offices. West Virginia also has a very strong tradition of union membership. While the state continued its Democratic tradition by supporting Bill Clinton by large margins in 1992 and 1996, a majority of West Virginia voters supported George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Bush easily won the state's five electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 13 percentage points with 56.1% of the vote.
The most consistent support for Democrats is found in the impoverished coal fields of Southern West Virginia (especially McDowell, Mingo, Logan, Wyoming, and Boone Counties), while Republicans are most numerous to the east of the Allegheny Mountains, especially in the state's Eastern Panhandle and Potomac Highlands.
Important cities and towns
- See also: List of cities in West Virginia, List of towns in West Virginia, List of villages in West Virginia, List of census-designated places in West Virginia
Image:Charleston WV skyline.jpg
Large cities (+ 10,000 population)
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Towns and small cities
Metropolitan Statistical Areas
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Micropolitan Statistical Areas
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Education
Colleges and universities
High schools
Professional sports teams
- Minor league baseball
- Bluefield Orioles (Advanced Rookie League Appalachian League), Bluefield
- Princeton Devil Rays (Appalachian League), Princeton
- West Virginia Power (Class A South Atlantic League), Charleston
- Minor league hockey
- Wheeling Nailers (ECHL), Wheeling
- Basketball
- West Virginia Wild (International Basketball League), Charleston
- Indoor football
- Huntington Heroes (American Indoor Football League), Huntington
- Ohio Valley Greyhounds (United Indoor Football), Wheeling
- Soccer
- West Virginia Chaos (USL Premier Development League), Charleston
Symbols and designations
| State colors | Old Gold and Blue | 1963 |
| State motto | Montani Semper Liberi ("Mountaineers Are Always Free") | 1863 |
| State nickname | Mountain State, Panhandle State (unofficial) | |
| State slogan | Wild and Wonderful | |
| Flora | ||
|---|---|---|
| State flower | Rhododendron Rhododendron maximum | 1903 |
| State tree | Sugar Maple Acer saccharum | 1949 |
| State fruit | Golden Delicious Apple Malus domestica | 1995 |
| Fauna | ||
| State bird | Cardinal Richmondena cardinalis | 1949 |
| State animal | Black Bear Ursus americanus | 1973 |
| State fish | Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis | 1973 |
| State butterfly | Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus | 1995 |
| State insect | Honey Bee Apis mellifera | 2002 |
| Geological | ||
| State gem | Silicified Mississippian Fossil Coral Lithostrotionella | 1990 |
| State soil | Monongahela Silt Loam | 1997 |
| Music | ||
| State songs | "The West Virginia Hills" "This Is My West Virginia" "West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home" "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (unofficial) | 1963 |
Culture
Film
[[Category:{{{1|}}} articles with sections needing expansion]]Wrong Turn (2003): set in West Virginia, although the movie was filmed in Ontario, Canada.
The Mothman Prophecies (2002): also set in West Virginia, but filmed in Pennsylvania.
Bubble (2005): set and filmed in Belpre, Ohio and Parkersburg, West Virginia.
The Deer Hunter (1978): partially filmed in Weirton, West Virginia.
Holy Ghost People (1967): documentary on a congregation in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia.
Music
Appalachian Music
West Virginia's folk heritage is a part of the Appalachian folk music tradition, and includes styles of fiddling, ballad singing, and other styles that draw on Scots-Irish music. Camp Washington-Carver, a Mountain Cultural Arts Center located at Clifftop in Fayette County, hosts an annual Appalachian String Band Festival [5]. The Capitol Complex in Charleston hosts The Vandalia Gathering, where traditional Appalachian musicians compete in contests and play in impromptu jam sessions and evening concerts over the course of the weekend [6].
Classical Music
The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1939, as the Charleston Civic Orchestra, before becoming the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in 1943. The first conductor was William R. Wiant, followed by the prominent conductor Antonio Modarelli, who was written about in the November 7, 1949 Time Magazine for his composition of the River Saga, a six-section progam piece about the Kanawhah River according to the Charleston Gazette's November 6, 1999 photo essay, "Snapshots of the 20th Century".[7]. Prior to coming to Charleston, Modarelli had conducted the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, according to the orchestra's website. [8]
Musical Innovation
West Virginia's few urban centers are prominent spots of musical innovation. The Capitol Music Hall, in Wheeling, is the oldest performing venue of its kind in the state, and has hosted a wide variety of acts, from national tours to the local Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.
The West Virginia Cultural Center in Charleston<ref>West Virginia Cultural Center accessed January 19, 2006.</ref> is home to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History<ref>West Virginia Division of Culture and History accessed January 19, 2006</ref> which helps underwrite and coordinate a large number of musical activities. The Center is also home to Mountain Stage, the internationally broadcast live-performance music radio program established in 1983.<ref>In 2001, Mountain Stage debuted a television show featuring many of the radio program's guests. Mountain Stage, accessed January 20, 2006.</ref> The program also travels to other venues in the state such as the West Virgina Creative Arts Center in Morgantown.<ref>Greater Morgantown Convention & Visitors Bureau, accessed January 20, 2006.</ref>
The Center hosts concerts sponsored by the Friends of Old Time Music and Dance (FOOTMAD), which brings an assortment of acoustic roots music to West Virginians.<ref>A list of events can be found on the FOOTMAD website [9].</ref> The Center also hosts the West Virginia Dance Festival, which features classical and modern dance.<ref>West Virginia Dance Festival, accessed January 20, 2006.</ref>
The town of Glenville has long been home to the annual West Virginia State Folk Festival. [10]
The Mountaineer Opera House in Milton books a variety of musical acts.
Notes and references
<references/>
General references
- Charles H. Ambler, A History of Education in West Virginia From Early Colonial Times to 1949 (1951)
- Charles H. Ambler and Festus P. Summers. West Virginia, the Mountain State (1958)
- Jane S. Becker, Inventing Tradition: Appalachia and the Construction of an American Folk, 1930-1940 1998.
- Richard A. Brisbin, et al. West Virginia Politics and Government (1996)
- James Morton Callahan, History of West Virginia (1923) 3 vol
- John C. Campbell, The Southern Highlander and His Homeland (1921)reissued 1969.
- Richard Orr Curry, A House Divided: A Study of Statehood Politics and Copperhead Movement in West Virginia (1964)
- Donald Edward Davis. Where There Are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians 2000.
- Ronald D, Eller. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880–1930 1982.
- Carl E. Feather, Mountain People in a Flat Land: A Popular History of Appalachian Migration to Northeast Ohio, 1940–1965. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1998.
- Thomas R. Ford ed. The Southern Appalachian Region: A Survey. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1967.
- Horace Kephart, Our Southern Highlanders. Rev. ed. New York: Macmillan, 1922. Reprinted as Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life among the Mountaineers . With an Introduction by George Ellison. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976.
- Gerald Milnes, Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999.
- Otis K. Rice, The Allegheny Frontier: West Virginia Beginnings, 1730-1830 (1970),
- Otis K. Rice and Stephen W. Brown, West Virginia: A History, 2d ed. ( Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1993), standard
- Curtis Seltzer, Fire in the Hole: Miners and Managers in the American Coal Industry (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1985), conflict in the coal industry to the 1980s.
- Joe William Trotter Jr., Coal, Class, and Color: Blacks in Southern West Virginia, 1915-32 (1990)
- John Alexander Williams, West Virginia: A History for Beginners. 2nd ed. Charleston, W.Va.: Appalachian Editions, 1997.
- John Alexander Williams. West Virginia: A Bicentennial History (1976)
- John Alexander Williams. West Virginia and the Captains of Industry 1976.
- John Alexander Williams. Appalachia: A History (2002)
Primary sources
- Elizabeth Cometti, and Festus P. Summers. The Thirty-fifth State: A Documentary History of West Virginia. Morgantown: West Virginia University Library, 1966.
See also
- West Virginia State Highways
- List of West Virginia wildlife management areas
- List of West Virginia state parks
- List of newspapers in West Virginia
- List of television stations in West Virginia
- Lost counties, cities, and towns of Virginia
External links
- State of West Virginia Government
- West Virginia Cyclopedia Wiki-Site
- West Virginia Online
- Ohio Valley Roads
- West Virginia Visitor's Guide
- West Virginia's Historical Markers
- West Virginia Division of Culture and History - West Virginia Archives and History
- Collection of West Virginia photos
- The Goat Rope blog about West Viginia politics
ca:Virgínia de l'Oest da:West Virginia de:West Virginia et:Lääne-Virginia es:Virginia Occidental eo:Okcidenta Virginio eu:Ekialdeko Virginia fr:Virginie-Occidentale ga:Virginia Thiar ko:웨스트버지니아 주 id:West Virginia is:Vestur-Virginía it:Virginia Occidentale he:מערב וירג'יניה ka:დასავლეთი ვირჯინია ks:वेस्ट वर्जिनिया kw:Vyrjynia West la:Virginia Occidentalis lv:Rietumvirdžīnija lt:Vakarų Virdžinija hu:Nyugat-Virginia mk:Западна Вирџинија nl:West Virginia ja:ウェストバージニア州 no:Vest-Virginia nn:Vest-Virginia pl:Wirginia Zachodnia pt:Virgínia Ocidental ru:Западная Вирджиния sa:वेस्ट वर्जिनिया sq:West Virginia simple:West Virginia sl:Zahodna Virginija sr:Западна Вирџинија fi:Länsi-Virginia sv:West Virginia th:มลรัฐเวสต์เวอร์จิเนีย uk:Західна Вірджинія zh:西維吉尼亞州