West Virginia has several quirky firsts under its belt. The first Mother’s Day celebration was in the state on May 12, 1908 — Anna Jarvis created the day to honor her mother. The Golden Delicious variety of apples, terrific for baking pies, was discovered in West Virginia — it’s the state fruit!
Out of 13 states, it’s the only one that is completely within the famous Appalachian Mountains region. The landscape is filled with beautiful ridges, valleys, gorges, and dense forests.
The primary Native American Tribes present in West Virginia before Europeans came to the area were the Shawnee, Delaware (Lenape), Cherokee, Susquehannock, Seneca, Tuscarawas, and Mingo. The first Europeans to settle in West Virginia were Germans who arrived in 1727 at Mecklenburg, which is now Shepherdstown, the oldest town in West Virginia.
West Virginia was still part of Virginia during the Revolutionary War between 1775 to 1783. However, at the beginning of the Civil War (1861–1865), the area’s people refused to secede from the Union with the rest of the state. West Virginia became the 35th state in 1863.
On your next trip to the Mountain State, stop by one of the monuments or landmarks below to learn more about West Virginia’s unique past. Oh, and pick up a pepperoni roll — a 1930s Italian baker developed them as a meal for coal miners.
The Wheeling Suspension Bridge: Adding to West Virginia’s list of firsts, The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was the first to span a major river west of the Appalachian Mountains — the main channel of the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. From 1849 until 1851, it was the largest suspension bridge worldwide. Charles Ellet Jr. designed the bridge and supervised its construction, which linked the eastern and western sections of the National Road and became strategically important during the Civil War. In 1975, the Wheeling Suspension Bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark. While the bridge is not currently open to vehicle traffic — it has been closed since September 2019 due to structural damage and is undergoing a rehabilitation project — it is open to pedestrians and bicyclists to enjoy.
Photo Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Clover Site: West Virginia’s Native American history is on full display at this destination. The 11-acre archeological site is located in Cabell County, West Virginia, and has served as a wellspring of Indigenous artifacts for more than a century. Items from several Native American groups, including the Fort Ancient Culture, have been found at Clover Site, ranging from 9,000 years old to between 1,550 and 1,600 C.E. Well-preserved remains of a late prehistoric/protohistoric or “pre-contact” Native American village have been found there, including ceramics and stone and bone tools. Marshall University’s Archaeological School studied the site beginning in 1984, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1992, it was declared a National Historic Landmark.
Photo Courtesy Nyttend
The Alexander Wade House: This monument spotlights innovation in education. Constructed in 1860 by Judge Bunker, the Morgantown, West Virginia, home was purchased by Alexander Wade in 1872. Wade, who developed a set of promotional examinations and graduation designed for country schools called the Wade System, lived there from 1872 until he died in 1904. West Virginia adopted the comprehensive structure laid out in Wade’s “A Graduation System for Country Schools” in 1891, which was also widely adopted outside the state in the late 19th century. To mark his contributions to the United States educational system, the Alexander Wade house was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1965.
Photo Courtesy Stryker33
