The state of West Virginia is renowned for its breathtaking scenery, rich culture, and vibrant history. However, West Virginia also boasts a rather peculiar and unexpected feature–its unusual and distinctive shape! The story behind West Virginia’s intriguing outline unveils a surprising series of events that may leave you fascinated and curious about this peculiar state (of course, if you’re really curious, come visit!).
To understand West Virginia's shape, we must journey back in time to the early 19th century.
At that time, the land that now constitutes the state was part of Virginia, one of the original thirteen colonies. However, tensions began to rise in the 1800s between the eastern and western regions of Virginia due to various disagreements, primarily rooted in political and economic issues. Geography (including some steep mountain ridges that naturally divided the land) also played a role.
The Western counties of Virginia, primarily mountainous and dotted with subsistence farms, logging camps, and coal mines, retained loyalty to the Union during the American Civil War, while the eastern region, with more slaveholding plantations, leaned towards the Confederacy. This stark contrast led the western counties, yearning for their distinct identity and more even representation in state government, to eventually break away from Virginia and form their own state.
In 1861, amidst the chaos of the Civil War, delegates from these western counties gathered in Wheeling to establish the Restored Government of Virginia, a body that supported the Union cause within the state. It was the first step towards creating a new state.
But here's where some of the peculiar shape comes into play. The delegates faced a significant challenge in creating a state that included the dissenting western counties while ensuring they could maintain a crucial land connection to the eastern region. To overcome this obstacle, they cleverly devised an intricate, politically motivated state line, especially in the Eastern Panhandle region (Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan counties were included in the new state of West Virginia to ensure that the Union controlled the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad!).
The delegates considered various proposals (and even various names -- can you imagine if West Virginia were actually named Vandalia or Westylvania instead?!) but eventually settled on a design that would divide Virginia diagonally. The new state of West Virginia would stretch from the Ohio River in the northwest to the Potomac River in the northeast.
The Northern panhandle gets its unusual length from a separate agreement made with Pennsylvania that the border between the two states would run straight north from a set point directly west of the Mason Dixon line until it crossed the Ohio River, which it does when the river bends east just above Chester.
This unique shape, with two protruding panhandles, results in a state boundary unlike any other state in the country. Its elongated nature, flanked by five surrounding states, creates a quirky outline that makes it instantly recognizable on maps and atlases.
(It has been said, and not just by us, that if someone gives you the finger in West Virginia, they are just as likely to be showing you a quick diagram of their beloved state--with a finger for the northern panhandle and a thumb for the eastern panhandle--as telling you off.)
So, next time you glance at a map and stumble upon the peculiar shape of West Virginia, you’ll have a deeper understanding of the surprising history behind it. It’s a testament to the determination and ingenuity of the delegates who crafted a state that defied geographical expectations, marking it as one of the most unusually shaped (and easily recognizible) states in the entire United States.
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