West Virginia: Encyclopedia - West Virginia

West Virginia

Jay Rockefeller (D)

West Virginia, known as The Mountain State, is a state of the United States. West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War (1861-1865) 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, while the USGS designates it as a Mid-Atlantic state. Many in the state's Northern Panhandle, with the nothernmost point of the state about the same latitude as central New Jersey, 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. Lastly, Southern West Virginia, in which many West Virginians consider themselves southern, is less than 100 miles north of Tennessee and North Carolina. 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 (where on Bridge Day the federal government, which controls the landing site, allows BASE jumping [1] from the bridge), as well as many national and state parks. It is also home to the Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The U.S. Navy has named a series of ships USS West Virginia in honor of this state.

West Virginia - Information about West Virginia

• Counties and Important Towns in West Virginia
• Economics of West Virginia
• Education in West Virginia
• History of West Virginia
• Miscellaneous information on West Virginia
• West Virginia State Highways
• West Virginia Law and Government
• List of West Virginia state parks

West Virginia - Geography

See: List of West Virginia counties

It 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.

The state is referred to as The Mountain State, and it is the only state in the nation located entirely in the Appalachian Mountain range, and in which all areas are mountainous. About 75% of the state is within the Cumberland/Allegheny Plateaus region. Though the relief is not high, the plateau region is extremely rugged in most areas.

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 New England and eastern Canada.

The native vegetation for most of the state was originally mixed hardwood forest of oak, chestnut, maple, beech, and white pine, with willow along the 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.

West Virginia - Demographics

The population of West Virginia as of 2003 was 1,810,354.

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.

See also

• List of newspapers in West Virginia
• List of television stations in West Virginia
• Lost Counties, Cities and Towns of Virginia

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "West Virginia", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki