1. If West Virginia’s got anything, it’s moxie: They’re the only state that was created by carving out territory from another state… without that state’s permission.
2. In West Virginia, it’s not always easy to tell up from down. Probably because West Virginia is considered the southernmost northern state and the northern most southern state.
3. West Virginia can be pretty flawlessly lawless: there are no traffic lights in Calhoun County or in Clay County.
4. They’re not always lawless: the first court in the U.S. to allow videotaped evidence, which ended up convicting a drunk driver, was Charleston Municipal Court in West Virginia.
5. But who needs laws in West Virginia anyway? According to the crime index for 1997, West Virginia had the lowest crime rate in the country.
6.West Virginia may be the toughest state around: The people here can handle massive snowstorms. In 1983, the town of Glen Gary received 35 (35!) inches of snow.
7. Oh, and if that isn’t bad ass enough, West Virginia is the only state in the Union to get its sovereignty by proclamation of the President of the United States.
8. Love your mother? Then you should probably respect West Virginia: Mother’s Day was first observed at Andrews Church in Grafton on May 10, 1908.
9. Speaking of mothers, West Virginia knows all about family ties: The Lilly Family Reunion, held each year at Flat Top in Merer County, is the largest family reunion in the United States and attracts 10,000 guests each summer… and 10,000 times the family drama.
10. West Virginia is totally down with ag life: Jackson’s Mill is the site of the first 4-H Camp in the United States.
11. Plus, West Virginia’s nature can be larger than life: the largest sycamore tree in the world is in Webster Springs.
12. West Virginia gives new meaning to the term “slam dunk.” Don’t believe us? In 1984, West Virginia University player Georgeann Wells became the first woman to dunk a basketball in a college game.
13. If you’re looking to blame anyone for those pesky sales taxes, you might want to point the finger at WV: the first state sales tax in the United States was effected in West Virginia in 1921. Oops!
14. West Virginians are pros at patenting great ideas: the first patent for a soda fountain was granted in 1833 to George Dulty in Wheeling.
15. But West Virginians also have a bit of trouble making up their minds: the first Capital city of West Virginia was located in Wheeling but was later moved to Charleston. Sounds simple enough right? Yeah, no. The capital was then moved back to Wheeling, only to be moved back, once again, to Charleston.
16. West Virginians know how to turn a mole hill into a mountain: literally. There used to be a community in Ritchie County named Mole Hill but the citizens collectively decided to change the name of the community to “Mountain.” Clever, West Virginia, very clever…
17. West Virginians are completely fearless: The New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville is the second highest steel arch bridge in the United States and every October, on Bridge Day, people parachute and bungee jump 876 feet off the bridge. Perhaps you’re thinking it’s just a few brave souls who take the leap? Wrong. The event attracts 100,000 people each year.
18. But West Virginians have a history of fearlessly jumping in: the first major land battle fought between Union and Confederate soldiers in the Civil War took place in West Virginia in 1861.
19. West Virginia is surprisingly global for such a small state and holds the record for “most towns named after cities in other countries.” So when you visit, you can also visit Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Calcutta, Geneva, Shangai….etc. etc.
20. West Virginia has got some insanely talented athletes. In 1960, Danny Heater, a high school student, scored 135 points in a high school basketball game which earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
21. West Virginia can be a bit spooky at times….one of the nation’s oldest and largest Native American burial grounds is located in West Virginia. It’s 69 feet high and 900 feet in circumference. Yeah, that takes the meaning of graveyard to a new level.
22. West Virginians are great at keeping secrets. In fact, a small number of West Virginians kept quiet about a 30-year secret: underneath the Greenbrier resort at White Sulphur Springs is a huge, two-story bunker that is designed to house the entire United States Congress and support staff for 40 days in the event of a nuclear attack.
23. And for being a resort, the Greenbrier doesn’t exactly have a history of rest and relaxation either: during World War II, 1,700 people from foreign countries, many of them diplomats, were imprisoned at the Greenbrier. Yeah, not exactly the kind of resort you’d hope to stay at…
24. But if you are looking for some R&R, don’t completely give up on West Virginia: the first spa open to the public was located in Berkeley Springs, in 1756.
25. West Virginia is a state for the young and the old. Don’t believe me? Ask Governor Cecil Underwood who was the state’s youngest governor when he was first elected in 1956 at the age of 34. When he was elected again in 1996, he became the nation’s oldest governor at the age of 74….
26. If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? I don’t know, but West Virginians might: About 75 percent of West Virginia is covered by forests.
27. Speaking of falling trees, when trees do fall in West Virginia they go out in style: On September 10, 1938, the Mingo Oak, which was the largest and oldest white oak tree in the United States, was declared dead. A “falling ceremony” was held for the tree.
28. But don’t be fooled by all of those trees: West Virginia is not all forest. The state has packed in a population of 1.8 million people.
29. Sorry, Orwell. Big Brother reached West Virginia in 1954: the West Virginia’s Memorial Tunnel was the first in the nation to be monitored by television.
30. Got coal? 15 percent of the nation’s total coal production comes from West Virginia.
31. Speaking of coal, West Virginia is probably the only place in the world you could live in a coal house. The Coal House, which is the only residence in the world built entirely of coal, is located in White Sulphur Springs.
32. Women in West Virginia have downright rocked historically. In 1824, the “Ladies Garland,” was published, one of the first papers in the nation devoted to the interests of women.
33. While West Virginians have many achievements, spelling bees are not among them—the residents of Mullens in Wyoming County voted to retain the spelling of the name of their town, rather than switch to the correct spelling used by A. J. Mullins, for whom the town was named.
34. Looking for a hide out? Organ Cave, near Ronceverte, is the third largest cave in the United States and the largest in the state.
35. The first federal prison exclusively for women in the U. S. was the Federal Industrial Institution for Women in Alderson. Recognize the name? Among its inmates was Martha Stewart, the celebrity homemaker.
36. West Virginia has many firsts: The first steamboat was launched by James Rumsey in the Potomac River at New Mecklensburg in 1787.
37. Speaking of firsts, West Virginia University played Pitt in the first football game ever to be broadcast on the radio, in 1921 on KDKA.
38. Another amazing first? Mrs. Minnie Buckingham Harper, a member of the House of Delegates in 1928, was the first African American woman to become a member of a legislative body in the United States.
39. West Virginia takes apple pie, apple picking, apple sauce, and pretty much every else apple to the next level of awesome: the original Grimes Golden Apple Tree was discovered near Wellsburg.
40. Think West Virginia is flat? Think again. West Virginia has an average altitude of 1,500 feet, the highest average altitude east of the Mississippi.
41. West Virginia cities can be rather, um, drawn out: Weirton is the only city in the U. S. that extends from one state border to another.
42. Everyone loves to hate billboards. And you can blame West Virginia for that. Outdoor advertising actually got it’s start in Wheeling, in 1908 when the Block Brothers Tobacco Company adorned bridges and barns with their slogan: “Treat Yourself to the Best, Chew Mail Pouch.”
43. West Virginians know how to travel in style, the first electric railroad in the world was constructed between Huntington and Guyandotte.
44. While we’re on the subject of innovation, one of the first suspension bridges in the world was completed in Wheeling in 1849.
45. West Virginia knows its stone. The stone used for the Washington Monument was actually stone that was quarried near Hinton. Yeah, our stone gets around…
46. West Virginia is entrenched in American war history. Bailey Brown, the first Union soldier killed in the Civil War, died in 1861 in Fetterman.
47. And Chester Merriman of WV was the youngest soldier of World War I. He enlisted at 14. And you thought your teenage years were hard….
Feature Image Source: Flickr user Bondseye
