One thing i’ve always thought was weird about the Virginias is that theres a big part of Virginia that is completely west of the entire state of West Virginia
Yeah, weird quirk. Along those lines, I thought it was weird that the Republic of Ireland extends further north than Northern Ireland. Also, isn't Alaska both the easternmost state and the westernmost state?
I was surprised when I traveled westward from NYC to St Louis through Pennsylvania that I had to pass through West Virginia as it was on PA's western border. I mentioned it to someone in school and they refused to believe me and said, "No. West Virginia is in the South and Pennsylvania is in the North." (She spoke as if there was an impenetrable barrier between North and South and states were either on one side or the other. WV's whole existence is based on being between the two factions). I told her I understood her confusion but it was true. She refused to believe me OR to look at a road map. She just kept repeating, "No. West Virginia....". Some people resist new information.
@@bbraat I'm a West Virginian. I and almost everyone of us who have traveled around the country have stories that go something like this, you meet someone and you are asked where you're from and you say "West Virginia" and they respond "Oh Virginia, I have a friend that lives in Richmond you anywhere close to there?" And some people go as far as thinking you are pulling their leg that there are two Virginias and argue with you over it.
When I moved from West Virginia to Los Angeles I was SHOCKED by how few people knew West Virginia was it's own state. Most people would respond to where I was from with, " Ive got a friend that lives in Richmond."
I met some people in Florida one time and they were from Florida and when I told them where I was from they thought West Virginia was just a mountain in Virginia. Lol! It blew my mind. I thought all grade school children learned all the states and their capitals.? I know I did.
I too moved from West Virginia to Southern California (Orange County) and yes people always think that "West Virginia" is akin to "Northern California" and so forth. Few even know that such a state exists.
There was actually a proposal to call it Kanahwa (river and native nation ) but there was already a Kanahwa county and it was decided that would be too confusing.
Really appreciate your videos. I was a geography major in University and switched to Urban Planning. Now retired, I still love looking at the "landscape", both urban & rural, and wonder how "things’ developed.
Geoff, this particular part of American History has been fascinating to me for many years. I was already very much aware that The Civil War is what made the split possible. But I had never gotten much deeper into it than that. Thank You so much! You have taught me more about these two states in this episode than I have learned in the last several years!
One thing Geoff failed to mention is that after the Civil War the issue of whether the creation of WV was legal wound up before the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the VA legislature did not have standing to contest WV's formation, because it had left the Union. Also, several of WV's eastern counties joined later (?). Perhaps someone else can expound further on these.
There have been multiple Supreme Court cases afterwards on various topics on VA/WV such as whether WV is a legal state (to which the SC said to VA you rebelled you don't get a say) to WV repaying debt owed to VA. Another interesting fact is that even though the border between the states was largely settled upon after the conclusion of the Civil War, there was still a dispute on where the border lay between Jefferson County, WV and Loudoun County, VA which wasn't resolved until I think the 1990's.
That dispute was because folks in a Virginia Subdivision needed to know where their kids went to school and what Ambulance would show up when called. Nobody cared until it was populated. Five Virginia counties are still welcome to join West Virginia based on a majority vote of their current residents.
The eastern boundary was determined by the fighting in the area. By the way, slavery was more extensive in what is now West Virginia than you acknowledge. Where there were significant numbers of people, there was slavery.
You should get a sponsorship from the video game Cities: Skylines 2. It'd be cool to see you make a city with the knowledge that you have with history and urban development
I used to go to the post office a lot to mail packages. One day I was in line and a woman was mailing a package to West Virginia. The clerk told her she shouldn't put what part of Virginia it was going to. She didn't understand and he said she have just put "Virginia". She replied that West Virginia was a separate state. The clerk looked at another clerk who confirmed this, but for some reason he looked at me questioningly and when I nodded, he apologized to her. I don't know why he trusted me more than the other people.
I can confirm that there are still people in the U. S. That don't know there is a West Virginia. I used to work at Dish network and often people asked about where I was, and I would reply West Virginia and I often got 3 common comments. The more surprising one was "where is that, Europe?" and I was like no, West Virginia is a state, I'm like 4 hours from Ohio.
I've also known people who don't understand that North Carolina is in the South, just North of South Carolina, or that South Dakota is in the North. And then there's the Washingtons...
One suggestion for the future topic, are Virginia political geographic oddities. The nubbin that is the Virginia Eastern Shore for one. And how Virginia's northern border extends to the low water line of the Potomac, effectively ceding control to Maryland. However Kentucky, once a part of Virginia, has control of the Ohio River up to the shores of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
I live in MD but commute to Winchester, VA once a week. Which means I have to drive through WV's Eastern Panhandle to get to work. My opinion is that those Shenandoah Valley counties of VA are pretty much WV if not for a border. The people are the same. The culture is the same. The beliefs are the same.
My family lives in the Shenandoah Valley in Rockingham County and you are right. I know that in the antebellum period plantation agriculture and slavery were rare in the Shenandoah Valley. So I wonder why those states chose to stay in Virginia. Moreover, I wonder why the easternmost counties of West Virginia voted against secession.
It should be noted that Lincoln was not in favor of WV becoming a state but decided to do so in order to control the entirety of the B & O Railroad. This was pivotal for the war effort. Furthermore, WV was more progressive the VA for most of it's existence. Look towards the history of workers rights and unionization efforts in WV to see this and look towards the fossil fuel companies propaganda like "Friends of Coal" to see how descendants of those who picked up arms against the coal companies now carry water for them, willingly.
For a prime example of political corruption in WV, look towards JFK. Nothing against him, but he literally inflated the cost of political corruption in WV during his primary run. WV was key to his victory and while he did put boots on the ground and earn the votes of people, he also paid the powers at be for votes. There is an old joke in WV politics that JFK didn't know where the decimal was supposed to go and ended up paying 10x more per vote than he needed to.
As someone who was born and raised, and still lives in the Hampton Roads area, thanks for the quick refresher and informative video for people who aren't too familiar.
In a similar (if not identical) vein, how ‘bout a piece on how the state of Washington got its name, even though the national capital already had that name. Believe me, it causes no end of annoyance to those of us in the state.
You can still see the animosity between these states today. The West Virgina Mountaineers used to play Virgina Tech in football. The halftime shows got so insulting that TV broadcasters would cut away. West Virgina left and joined the Big 12.
I took a bus tour of West Virginia years ago. West Virginia had wanted to break away from the rest of the state for a long time, and the US Civil War finally gave them an excuse to do so.
I LOVE West Virginia because of the mountains - some of the best skiing in the east can be found at Snowshoe Resort and the views from the mountain ridges are incomparable. The small towns are a throwback, with lovely quaint main streets, and the larger towns have everything you might need. I’d move there in a minute if I could!
My wife is from Elkins and so I know a bit about the state. The most important civil war battle in West Virginia just a few miles south of Elkins. In my opinion, it would have been battle for the State in the long run if they had not seceded. The counties in the Shenanoah would have added strength to the Republican Party and the politics of very different from what actually happened in the present state of Virginia after 1865 with the wealth more evenly distributed than before.
I think if you are going to declare yourself a new state you should pick a better name than the old state name with a directional adjective like "West Virginia". Why not Appalachia or something else based off the idea of mountains? They missed a golden opportunity.
There were more interesting names considered, like Vandalia, which was the name for the original proposed colony that covered West Virginia and parts of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Also, Kanawha, which is a Native American term that a river and county are now named after. Unfortunately, when the powers that be voted, “West Virginia” won.
As a West Virginian, i would prefer that our forefathers voted in favor of names such as the State of Kanawha or the State of Potomac. They are much more unique and interesting.
District of Columbia. The city is Washington. The District should have long ago gone back to Maryland, like Arlington country went back to Virginia. Absurd to think of Dc being made a state. NYC as a state is more reasonable.
Thank you for the video. Since you like doing videos on state splits, you should consider doing one where the Northern part of California almost broke off to become the state of Jefferson. The locals there still talk about it today.
Great stuff as always! Your script would sound a lot better if you stopped using "would" when you could use a simple past tense. Review your script and note how many times you do this. Clean these up, and you'll have a much more professional-sounding style and diction. Keep the great content coming!
Lovely shirt you are wearing! Is that octopus? Beautiful. I think you should also offer the styles you wear for sale. Not the same shirt obviously, but the same type totally!
I am a proud West Virginian... born and raised here and I will never understand why we get a bad rap but I really don’t care because I feel that we are a hidden gem in this country that not many people know about. Does anyone really know that Mother’s Day started in West Virginia? God Bless America and God Bless West Virginia! ❤
I am a Virginian and I have lived in foreign countries for the past 15 years. People often think I'm from West Virginia and they start singing Country Roads by John Denver. West Virginia is a beautiful state and you are right, a hidden gem.
@@beckyb.4592 Yep 👍 also shortly after the first commemoration of Father's Day. West Virginia is always home no matter where I am. My hometown is in Lewis county the city of Weston. I live in Florida.
I found it interesting that you didn't mention the role played by the rivers. The primary rivers flow north into the Ohio, which naturally led to strong commercial and economic ties between the western counties of Virginia and the new state of Ohio. To this day, WV is closely tied to the Buckeye State, much more than to the Old Dominion. And it's due to geography!
@jflately38. Hello neighbor! Funny how this just popped up in my feed, lol I'm Shenandoah county also. Lived here all my life (50yrs). My husband is from WV. We own land in both states.
West Virginia's formation, it should be mentioned, was possible because the territory was controlled by Union forces. The eastern part of Tennessee also tried to form their own mountainous state, with less success.
People flee WV once they grow up assuming they have any economic prospects so of course it’s far smaller. WV is surrounded by states doing well to so there are alot of greener pastures like in MD, VA, DC.
My first experience with her gave me the assurance and confidence that has made me to invest without fear of losing, I really appreciate her efforts and transparency..
I think you missed one important thing when talking about the economic differences. The Eastern Continental Divide is roughly the VA/WVA border. The rivers east of it all empty into the Chesapeake Bay or Atlantic Ocean. All the waterways west of it flow into the Ohio, tying WVA to the Ohio Valley.
@@johnschuh8616 Oh, I know. Mom's family is on the North Fork of the Shenandoah, and Dad's is on the South. Even the accent's a little different. Hill Williams and Tidewater. Different culture. Only 15 miles apart.
West Virginia is known for people working and specially coal mines and things of that nature. And Virginia is related to Washington d.c.. and people refer Richmond as Richmond north of Richmond. Meaning the government and Corruption and all the payoffs. And that is my best guess?
The only area of Virginia with ties to working in dc is the dc metro of Virginia western part of Virginia is the Same as west Virginia with coal and most of the Piedmont and coastal plain were built in tobacco and cotton farming
@@reelfishing47 thank you for the info I've been through there many times on vacation and also North Carolina and Virginia and West Virginia I've been around up there but I don't know whole lot about it all I just know what I hear and I saw what I saw thanks for the info
The western district of Virginia was under a Federal garrison, at the request of the Virginia legislature, prior to the Civil War because of violence and danger. John Brown raided the Federal station at Harper's Ferry, but the presence of Federal troops helped West Virginia stay in the Union. West Virginia reimbursed Virginia for its share of the pre-war debt from construction of the Kanawa Canal which was a financial failure, its towpath later turned into railroads.
My grandmother, a history teacher explained this split in so many words and essentially said WV was never supposed to be a state because it split without approval of its parent state.
Interesting how a similar dynamic as the WV/VA divide worked out in the mountain counties of Western NC and Eastern TN, however without separation. As in WV, these were yeoman farmers working small parcels of land, living and working independently from the slavery power centers. Most of those NC and TN counties sent more men to the Union Armies than the Confederate Army. While these Virginian "faux aristocratic" slave-driving fops were eager to continue their leisurely, decadent lifestyle, proud and strong men and women who worked the land with their OWN bodies in the western, mountainous part of the state had had enough of the whining, sissy VA plantation culture and rightly separated from these dandies and formed the free, great State of West Virginia.
More slavery in WV than you are acknowledging. It seems that someone who moved from the Shenandoah Valley to Charleston area would have found things pretty much the same. except his business would have oriented to the Ohio Valley.
As a Virginian, I have to agree. My own ancestors were poor white farmers in western North Carolina (Yadkin County). They probably wanted to own slaves but couldn't afford it. I would like to know more about why the mountainous counties of western NC and eastern TN did not secede.
Have you heard of the Stonewall Brigade? Formed as the 2nd Virginia, and now a National Guard division paired with a Pennsylvanian brigade, presumably to assure their loyalty. Badge is a circle divided by a yin Yang curve on half blue; the other grey. It works as both groups are mostly hill people and culturally similar.
@@johnschuh8616 True what you commented. I was being brief and somewhat rhetorical. The residents in the northwestern part of the state, for example, exhibited different loyalties than perhaps the southern counties. I will need to read more about the Civil War in WV in the future. Thank you.
Virginia's decision to secede from the Union in April, 1861 cost the state not only 24,000 sq.mi. of land (present day West Virginia), but 33,000 of her citizens killed and tens of thousands more wounded in the war that followed. Add to that the destruction of her cities and farm lands as battle after battle raged across the state for four long years and you have a tragedy of epic proportions.
True. About half of total Confederate and Union casualties in the Civil War happened on Virginia soil. About 1/6 occurred in Spotsylvania County. Nonetheless, there was never much chance of Virginia staying in the Union in 1861.
The confusion so many people have about the name "West Virginia" could have been avoided if some other name had been adopted for the new State. Originally the Second Wheeling Convention was using the name Kanawha which would have been perfect, but Kanawha was later rejected and various other names were considered. My favourite was Vandalia (which is used for various things within West Virginia to this day). Was Appalachia considered? That best of all. No-one could confuse Appalachia, Kanawha, or Vandalia with Virginia! (The main problem with Kanawha is that outsiders would probably mispronounce it.)
You totally missed the strategic railroads in what is now West Virginia and the ethnic and religious differences between the early settlers. The current CSX tracks across the Alleghenies, for example, was bitterly fought over particularly around Rowlesburg and Terra Alta. The Tidewater was typically settled by the Episcopalian second sons of wealthy English, while western Virginians were Presbyterian Ulster Scots and Germans. These were two critical factors. The best way to emphasize the differences is the mis-spelled county name, Monongalia County on the Monongahela River, for example. Also a subtlety is that some county names seem mis-placed in West Virginia and western Virginia. For example Pocahontas County West Virginia is far from Pocahontas Virginia while Allegheny County is far from the traditional Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and western Maryland. The Tidewater Virginians that made up the majority of the Virginia government just didn’t care about getting things right out in the hinterlands that they cared little about. I am a fifth generation Virginian/West Virginian and had a four times great uncle in the Virginia Legislature. My background is in geology with an undergrad minor in geography. Geography matters, but so does history! The place where the Civil War really was brother against brother was the South Branch Valley. I have done geologic field work there during two periods and you can encounter earthworks with got away seeded fruit and nut trees in the back trenches in the strangest, but logical places.
Patrick Henry was looked upon as a kind of hick by the Tidewater folk. Interesting to men is the way that Jefferson was so westward oriented in his thinking. But he was t sedentary in the ways to think about going there himself. Unlike Washington, another westward looking man, He had claims along the Ohio in Virginia. Wild country in those days.
Charleston 46,000 people kanawha county 178,000 people but you’re right about the metropolitan area not quite sure how they come up with that but it must encompass several counties ?
One the map at 1:43, I saw a large group of islands at roughly the same latitude as Virginia, but in the middle of the Atlantic. They seem too large to be Bermuda, but I could be wrong. Any ideas?
I have a friend from West Virginia who claims to be a Consitiutional Originalist. When I bring up that his state was created by a Constitutional Amendment that would be considered social reforms today(abolition), he just gets a blank look on his face and changes the subject.
I was born in Bath County on the Virginia side of the line. It’s very similar to WVA, including sending delegates to Richmond with instructions not to secede. Still not entirely sure why it’s not part of West Virginia.
I'm originally from Florida, raised in a military family. When we moved to Connecticut, a friend of mine claimed he was from the South because he was from West Virginia. He actually lived in the Eastern part of West Virginia that mixed in with Maryland for 5 years but, come to find, he was born and raised in Minnesota. Long story short the guy was a clown that liked to rob people behind their backs, so made sense he didn't know West Virginia broke away from the South to become a part of the Union.
Interesting. So there is a precedent of a state being created from an existing state. Hmmm? I think there are several areas of the US that want this to happen again (maybe) -- Colorado, Oregon, Washington.
Arlington county was the opposite… in 1840s when the south part of DC saw slavery may be abolished, it voted to be reintegrated into Virginia. It was integrated in Alexandria, but later northern Alexandria became Arlington county. Named after the Arlington House, confederate general Robert Edward Lee’s and Custis estate, which was converted into a cemetery by union troops. Even in the 1920s, Arlington was known for the many dairy farms. Now it’s home to Ronald Regan DCA airport, the Pentagon, Arlington national cemetery, the Air Force memorial, the marine corps memorial statue… in the 1960s, it was the first county in Virginia to desegregate black students which the rest of the state did by the early 70s. It’s the smallest county in the US and one of the wealthiest.
I always thought that the federal government should have reannexed that part of Alexandria that was ceded to Virginia for the purpose of having slave auctions outside of the national capital.
Where I lived in WV we sent more men to fight for the Confederacy than we did the Union. Heck, there's a Confederate soldier monument in Hinton to this day.
Good video but actually Huntington is WV’s largest metro at 360,000. Also, no video ever points out how Virginia’s economy was built from huge investments from the federal government. No state can compete with that.
@@ldc3214 Nah, that is NEVER going to happen. DC will be a state within a decade, and so will PR. Neither Virginia nor MD wants DC’s nearly 100% democratic voters.
I can only guess it is for the same reason the United States has 2 Carolinas, and 2Dakotas, and 2 St. Louis ( although they are not Stately ). I would also assume the same reason the USA has many dual named cities. Happy Now. Get som needed rest since you worked hard finding 2 Virginia's. By Now, LCG
And Next Up in "what you missed when you fell asleep in high school history class and didn't bother studying because you were lazy" ... "the Missoiri compromise ..."
There’s south West Virginia and then there’s southwest Virginia. Two different places, but try living in either with fam in the other. You’re never sure which is meant at first.
6:53 This map is misleading, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri stayed neutral during the Civil War and when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the border states (which now included West Virginia) were allowed to keep their slaves because Lincoln didn’t want them to fall into the Confederacy if they took their slaves away and waited until the passage of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery all together
Why does the USA have 2 Carolinas? Why 2 Dakotas? Why are New England states so small? Why is Michigan have a small part just above Wisconsin? Why do Missouri and Louisiana look like boots? Why does Oklahoma look like a frying pan? Why do Colorado and Wyoming look alike?
That's great but now I'm asking why there's three Californias? California in the United States, and Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur in Mexico.
I'm from Fredericksburg. Live in Maine now but ive been saying forever that WV never lost its culture unlike VA. Also for those that don't know WV has some of the most beautiful land this country has to offer imo.
Virginia joined the rat race. I lived in NOVA as a kid and you could NEVER convince me to move back to that area again. I live within an easy access to Fredericksburg, Virginia and I love the slower pace vibe.
@@ldc3214 I live in West Virginia. Very slow pace, people are so friendly. I moved to Florida for 20 years. It’s good to be back to these country roads that brought me home.
Wrong. WVians fly confederate flags. It's a "right to work," red state. Trust me, current WV has no clue about its culture and it is only really taught to Golden Horseshoe students, which are few and far between.
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9:09 "Virginia has far larger and more metropolitan cities than Virginia"
One thing i’ve always thought was weird about the Virginias is that theres a big part of Virginia that is completely west of the entire state of West Virginia
Not too weird
Yeah, weird quirk.
Along those lines, I thought it was weird that the Republic of Ireland extends further north than Northern Ireland.
Also, isn't Alaska both the easternmost state and the westernmost state?
I was surprised when I traveled westward from NYC to St Louis through Pennsylvania that I had to pass through West Virginia as it was on PA's western border. I mentioned it to someone in school and they refused to believe me and said, "No. West Virginia is in the South and Pennsylvania is in the North." (She spoke as if there was an impenetrable barrier between North and South and states were either on one side or the other. WV's whole existence is based on being between the two factions).
I told her I understood her confusion but it was true. She refused to believe me OR to look at a road map. She just kept repeating, "No. West Virginia....".
Some people resist new information.
@@bbraat I can’t believe some people actually think like that. It’s like they think every state is a perfect square and that the borders are perfect.
@@bbraat I'm a West Virginian. I and almost everyone of us who have traveled around the country have stories that go something like this, you meet someone and you are asked where you're from and you say "West Virginia" and they respond "Oh Virginia, I have a friend that lives in Richmond you anywhere close to there?" And some people go as far as thinking you are pulling their leg that there are two Virginias and argue with you over it.
When I moved from West Virginia to Los Angeles I was SHOCKED by how few people knew West Virginia was it's own state. Most people would respond to where I was from with, " Ive got a friend that lives in Richmond."
I met some people in Florida one time and they were from Florida and when I told them where I was from they thought West Virginia was just a mountain in Virginia. Lol! It blew my mind. I thought all grade school children learned all the states and their capitals.? I know I did.
Over 50% of US college graduates can’t name all fifty states on a map.
I too moved from West Virginia to Southern California (Orange County) and yes people always think that "West Virginia" is akin to "Northern California" and so forth. Few even know that such a state exists.
I am from Virginia and now I live in Poland. They think Virginia is the same as West Virginia and they start singing Country Roads.
Very Good
What's really impressive is how creative they were in naming the new state.
There was actually a proposal to call it Kanahwa (river and native nation ) but there was already a Kanahwa county and it was decided that would be too confusing.
Other names being considered in addition to Kanawha, was Allegheny and Vandalia.
Really appreciate your videos. I was a geography major in University and switched to Urban Planning. Now retired, I still love looking at the "landscape", both urban & rural, and wonder how "things’ developed.
Geoff, this particular part of American History has been fascinating to me for many years. I was already very much aware that The Civil War is what made the split possible. But I had never gotten much deeper into it than that. Thank You so much! You have taught me more about these two states in this episode than I have learned in the last several years!
One thing Geoff failed to mention is that after the Civil War the issue of whether the creation of WV was legal wound up before the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the VA legislature did not have standing to contest WV's formation, because it had left the Union. Also, several of WV's eastern counties joined later (?). Perhaps someone else can expound further on these.
@@johnhblaubachea5156, thank you for this feedback and further information. It definitely sheds light on this subject.
We West Virginians have always been proud of how and why we split from Virginia. Yet we've always gotten a bad rap
West Virginia is super poor and always at the bottom of rankings
At least your bit is in the Country Roads song 🎵 🙂👍
@@matthewwelsh294just how we like it, it keeps all of the morons from coming around 😂
Cuz yall more racist than va lol
@@matthewwelsh294 california Ranks very poorly in education
There have been multiple Supreme Court cases afterwards on various topics on VA/WV such as whether WV is a legal state (to which the SC said to VA you rebelled you don't get a say) to WV repaying debt owed to VA. Another interesting fact is that even though the border between the states was largely settled upon after the conclusion of the Civil War, there was still a dispute on where the border lay between Jefferson County, WV and Loudoun County, VA which wasn't resolved until I think the 1990's.
That dispute was because folks in a Virginia Subdivision needed to know where their kids went to school and what Ambulance would show up when called. Nobody cared until it was populated. Five Virginia counties are still welcome to join West Virginia based on a majority vote of their current residents.
A video on WV’s state lines would be very interesting or a state line video series for each state.
The eastern boundary was determined by the fighting in the area. By the way, slavery was more extensive in what is now West Virginia than you acknowledge. Where there were significant numbers of people, there was slavery.
The Eastern panhandle was made part of West Virginia because of a rail line that went through that area at Harper's ferry.
You can drive in the residential area, you see sign , virginia, state line dont run straight
You should get a sponsorship from the video game Cities: Skylines 2. It'd be cool to see you make a city with the knowledge that you have with history and urban development
I used to go to the post office a lot to mail packages. One day I was in line and a woman was mailing a package to West Virginia. The clerk told her she shouldn't put what part of Virginia it was going to. She didn't understand and he said she have just put "Virginia". She replied that West Virginia was a separate state. The clerk looked at another clerk who confirmed this, but for some reason he looked at me questioningly and when I nodded, he apologized to her. I don't know why he trusted me more than the other people.
Holy God when and where was this?
I can confirm that there are still people in the U. S. That don't know there is a West Virginia. I used to work at Dish network and often people asked about where I was, and I would reply West Virginia and I often got 3 common comments. The more surprising one was "where is that, Europe?" and I was like no, West Virginia is a state, I'm like 4 hours from Ohio.
I've also known people who don't understand that North Carolina is in the South, just North of South Carolina, or that South Dakota is in the North. And then there's the Washingtons...
@bash24 Have you noticed the people they're hiring over the last several years?They all have something in common.
@@josepabon889 Yet,these people are allowed to vote.
One suggestion for the future topic, are Virginia political geographic oddities. The nubbin that is the Virginia Eastern Shore for one. And how Virginia's northern border extends to the low water line of the Potomac, effectively ceding control to Maryland. However Kentucky, once a part of Virginia, has control of the Ohio River up to the shores of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
I live in MD but commute to Winchester, VA once a week. Which means I have to drive through WV's Eastern Panhandle to get to work. My opinion is that those Shenandoah Valley counties of VA are pretty much WV if not for a border. The people are the same. The culture is the same. The beliefs are the same.
Appalachia would've been a great name for a state.
My family lives in the Shenandoah Valley in Rockingham County and you are right. I know that in the antebellum period plantation agriculture and slavery were rare in the Shenandoah Valley. So I wonder why those states chose to stay in Virginia. Moreover, I wonder why the easternmost counties of West Virginia voted against secession.
It should be noted that Lincoln was not in favor of WV becoming a state but decided to do so in order to control the entirety of the B & O Railroad. This was pivotal for the war effort. Furthermore, WV was more progressive the VA for most of it's existence. Look towards the history of workers rights and unionization efforts in WV to see this and look towards the fossil fuel companies propaganda like "Friends of Coal" to see how descendants of those who picked up arms against the coal companies now carry water for them, willingly.
For a prime example of political corruption in WV, look towards JFK. Nothing against him, but he literally inflated the cost of political corruption in WV during his primary run. WV was key to his victory and while he did put boots on the ground and earn the votes of people, he also paid the powers at be for votes. There is an old joke in WV politics that JFK didn't know where the decimal was supposed to go and ended up paying 10x more per vote than he needed to.
West Virginia, or rather its working class population, used to be unironically communist, arguably the most communist in America
@@PresidentFlip absolutely! That’s even where the term redneck comes from. Miners wore red bandanas on their neck when storming Blaire Mountain.
Amen.🙏.
@@Mae-hx2mlredneck and hillbilly were old world terms that existed in england and scotland first to describe the scots.
As someone who was born and raised, and still lives in the Hampton Roads area, thanks for the quick refresher and informative video for people who aren't too familiar.
In a similar (if not identical) vein, how ‘bout a piece on how the state of Washington got its name, even though the national capital already had that name. Believe me, it causes no end of annoyance to those of us in the state.
The capital city of the US is formally known as the "District of Columbia" (DC), but good luck for most people to understand that...
Change it to Lincoln.
...so we could have that John Denver song.
Now that you mention that, I missed that error!
You can still see the animosity between these states today. The West Virgina Mountaineers used to play Virgina Tech in football. The halftime shows got so insulting that TV broadcasters would cut away. West Virgina left and joined the Big 12.
Actually, Virginia Tech left the Big East to join the ACC in 2004. West Virginia didn't join the Big XII until 2012.
I love this series. Hopefully you do one on why there are three Californias and why the US decided not to annex Baja.
Can you make a video about that first Newfoundland colony that parishes after leaving. Cheers from Newfoundland! 😃
I took a bus tour of West Virginia years ago. West Virginia had wanted to break away from the rest of the state for a long time, and the US Civil War finally gave them an excuse to do so.
And yet a majority of counties voted against secession on October 24, 1861
I LOVE West Virginia because of the mountains - some of the best skiing in the east can be found at Snowshoe Resort and the views from the mountain ridges are incomparable. The small towns are a throwback, with lovely quaint main streets, and the larger towns have everything you might need. I’d move there in a minute if I could!
Good info! 😊
As a proud Mountaineer, I am very glad that the shape of West Virginia gives Virginia "the bird".
My wife is from Elkins and so I know a bit about the state. The most important civil war battle in West Virginia just a few miles south of Elkins. In my opinion, it would have been battle for the State in the long run if they had not seceded. The counties in the Shenanoah would have added strength to the Republican Party and the politics of very different from what actually happened in the present state of Virginia after 1865 with the wealth more evenly distributed than before.
I think if you are going to declare yourself a new state you should pick a better name than the old state name with a directional adjective like "West Virginia".
Why not Appalachia or something else based off the idea of mountains? They missed a golden opportunity.
There were more interesting names considered, like Vandalia, which was the name for the original proposed colony that covered West Virginia and parts of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Also, Kanawha, which is a Native American term that a river and county are now named after. Unfortunately, when the powers that be voted, “West Virginia” won.
I think because West Virginians hoped to control the whole of the original Virginia after the Confederacy was defeated.
As a West Virginian, i would prefer that our forefathers voted in favor of names such as the State of Kanawha or the State of Potomac. They are much more unique and interesting.
The US has also 2 Carolinas 2 Dakotas and 2 Washingtons ( DC and State)
But only one of them is a State. The other is the Capital district, and by design does not have all of the rights and benefits of statehood.
There’s only one called West though.
Yeah, and how many towns called Springfield?
District of Columbia. The city is Washington. The District should have long ago gone back to Maryland, like Arlington country went back to Virginia. Absurd to think of Dc being made a state. NYC as a state is more reasonable.
Love ur vids…just wanted to let u know Charlesfort wasn’t where Charleston is…but Beaufort
Thank you for the video. Since you like doing videos on state splits, you should consider doing one where the Northern part of California almost broke off to become the state of Jefferson. The locals there still talk about it today.
I just watched one of his video talking about that
Happy 160th birthday West Virginia! June 20th 1863 - June 20th 2023!
Great stuff as always! Your script would sound a lot better if you stopped using "would" when you could use a simple past tense. Review your script and note how many times you do this. Clean these up, and you'll have a much more professional-sounding style and diction. Keep the great content coming!
Aww man it's all I hear now
@@prion42 Hahahaha. Yeah, there are a whole bunch of them!
Very interesting.
Lovely shirt you are wearing! Is that octopus? Beautiful. I think you should also offer the styles you wear for sale. Not the same shirt obviously, but the same type totally!
I am a proud West Virginian... born and raised here and I will never understand why we get a bad rap but I really don’t care because I feel that we are a hidden gem in this country that not many people know about. Does anyone really know that Mother’s Day started in West Virginia? God Bless America and God Bless West Virginia! ❤
I am a Virginian and I have lived in foreign countries for the past 15 years. People often think I'm from West Virginia and they start singing Country Roads by John Denver. West Virginia is a beautiful state and you are right, a hidden gem.
Maybe the Incest and doped put population has something to do with it?
@@beckyb.4592 Yep 👍 also shortly after the first commemoration of Father's Day. West Virginia is always home no matter where I am. My hometown is in Lewis county the city of Weston. I live in Florida.
Nice mini magnetic power generators. How much faster would those globes have to be to not just look cool but power your house?
Mining was an important part of life in both Virginia's, The railroads like the C&O and B&O were also vital to transporting coal of the area
Take a drive through West Virginia, beautiful mountainous scenery, not a lot of open flat areas.
I found it interesting that you didn't mention the role played by the rivers. The primary rivers flow north into the Ohio, which naturally led to strong commercial and economic ties between the western counties of Virginia and the new state of Ohio. To this day, WV is closely tied to the Buckeye State, much more than to the Old Dominion. And it's due to geography!
the natural landscape of both are stunning
Perfect timing with this video as today, June 20th is West Virginia's 160th birthday as a state.
Proud lifelong Virginia resident here, born and raised. I've also visited 47 other states as of this day. I approve of this video.
what county?
@@brandonjohnson9839 Shenandoah :) U?
@jflately38. Hello neighbor! Funny how this just popped up in my feed, lol I'm Shenandoah county also. Lived here all my life (50yrs). My husband is from WV. We own land in both states.
I'm from Hanover County. The western part of the state (and West Virginia) is beautiful.
West Virginia's formation, it should be mentioned, was possible because the territory was controlled by Union forces.
The eastern part of Tennessee also tried to form their own mountainous state, with less success.
People flee WV once they grow up assuming they have any economic prospects so of course it’s far smaller. WV is surrounded by states doing well to so there are alot of greener pastures like in MD, VA, DC.
*
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+1
I think you missed one important thing when talking about the economic differences. The Eastern Continental Divide is roughly the VA/WVA border. The rivers east of it all empty into the Chesapeake Bay or Atlantic Ocean. All the waterways west of it flow into the Ohio, tying WVA to the Ohio Valley.
And the Mississippi River!
@@deanchapman1824Of course. Almost everything between the continental divides ends up in the Mississippi.
West of the Blue Ridge is culturally more like West Virginia. Until recently.
@@johnschuh8616 Oh, I know. Mom's family is on the North Fork of the Shenandoah, and Dad's is on the South. Even the accent's a little different. Hill Williams and Tidewater. Different culture. Only 15 miles apart.
Can you do a video on the history of tacoma and Seattle wa
Did anyone else begin singing "Country Roads" by John Denver while watching this video?
“Almost heaven
West Virginia…” 🎶 ❤
Good grief! 3:13 New Netherlands went all the way past Albany, it wasn't just one city!
West Virginia is known for people working and specially coal mines and things of that nature. And Virginia is related to Washington d.c.. and people refer Richmond as Richmond north of Richmond. Meaning the government and Corruption and all the payoffs. And that is my best guess?
The only area of Virginia with ties to working in dc is the dc metro of Virginia western part of Virginia is the Same as west Virginia with coal and most of the Piedmont and coastal plain were built in tobacco and cotton farming
@@reelfishing47 thank you for the info I've been through there many times on vacation and also North Carolina and Virginia and West Virginia I've been around up there but I don't know whole lot about it all I just know what I hear and I saw what I saw thanks for the info
Hard to farm on hilly,rocky soil of wV. Lots of mouths at the gov’t teat in VA
This didn't need an 11 min video, but its good content.
Simply:
Civil War.
The end
The western district of Virginia was under a Federal garrison, at the request of the Virginia legislature, prior to the Civil War because of violence and danger. John Brown raided the Federal station at Harper's Ferry, but the presence of Federal troops helped West Virginia stay in the Union. West Virginia reimbursed Virginia for its share of the pre-war debt from construction of the Kanawa Canal which was a financial failure, its towpath later turned into railroads.
2:26 41th parallel… nice
My grandmother, a history teacher explained this split in so many words and essentially said WV was never supposed to be a state because it split without approval of its parent state.
Interesting how a similar dynamic as the WV/VA divide worked out in the mountain counties of Western NC and Eastern TN, however without separation. As in WV, these were yeoman farmers working small parcels of land, living and working independently from the slavery power centers. Most of those NC and TN counties sent more men to the Union Armies than the Confederate Army.
While these Virginian "faux aristocratic" slave-driving fops were eager to continue their leisurely, decadent lifestyle, proud and strong men and women who worked the land with their OWN bodies in the western, mountainous part of the state had had enough of the whining, sissy VA plantation culture and rightly separated from these dandies and formed the free, great State of West Virginia.
More slavery in WV than you are acknowledging. It seems that someone who moved from the Shenandoah Valley to Charleston area would have found things pretty much the same. except his business would have oriented to the Ohio Valley.
As a Virginian, I have to agree. My own ancestors were poor white farmers in western North Carolina (Yadkin County). They probably wanted to own slaves but couldn't afford it. I would like to know more about why the mountainous counties of western NC and eastern TN did not secede.
Have you heard of the Stonewall Brigade? Formed as the 2nd Virginia, and now a National Guard division paired with a Pennsylvanian brigade, presumably to assure their loyalty. Badge is a circle divided by a yin Yang curve on half blue; the other grey. It works as both groups are mostly hill people and culturally similar.
@@johnschuh8616 True what you commented. I was being brief and somewhat rhetorical. The residents in the northwestern part of the state, for example, exhibited different loyalties than perhaps the southern counties. I will need to read more about the Civil War in WV in the future. Thank you.
@@davidcpugh8743 Yes, the Stonewall Brigade was quite a force and pretty much went undefeated in their engagements while Jackson was alive.
Virginia's decision to secede from the Union in April, 1861 cost the state not only 24,000 sq.mi. of land (present day West Virginia), but 33,000 of her citizens killed and tens of thousands more wounded in the war that followed. Add to that the destruction of her cities and farm lands as battle after battle raged across the state for four long years and you have a tragedy of epic proportions.
True. About half of total Confederate and Union casualties in the Civil War happened on Virginia soil. About 1/6 occurred in Spotsylvania County. Nonetheless, there was never much chance of Virginia staying in the Union in 1861.
I'd like you to do
New Mexico and Mexico! 😁
The confusion so many people have about the name "West Virginia" could have been avoided if some other name had been adopted for the new State. Originally the Second Wheeling Convention was using the name Kanawha which would have been perfect, but Kanawha was later rejected and various other names were considered. My favourite was Vandalia (which is used for various things within West Virginia to this day). Was Appalachia considered? That best of all. No-one could confuse Appalachia, Kanawha, or Vandalia with Virginia! (The main problem with Kanawha is that outsiders would probably mispronounce it.)
You totally missed the strategic railroads in what is now West Virginia and the ethnic and religious differences between the early settlers. The current CSX tracks across the Alleghenies, for example, was bitterly fought over particularly around Rowlesburg and Terra Alta. The Tidewater was typically settled by the Episcopalian second sons of wealthy English, while western Virginians were Presbyterian Ulster Scots and Germans. These were two critical factors. The best way to emphasize the differences is the mis-spelled county name, Monongalia County on the Monongahela River, for example. Also a subtlety is that some county names seem mis-placed in West Virginia and western Virginia. For example Pocahontas County West Virginia is far from Pocahontas Virginia while Allegheny County is far from the traditional Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and western Maryland. The Tidewater Virginians that made up the majority of the Virginia government just didn’t care about getting things right out in the hinterlands that they cared little about. I am a fifth generation Virginian/West Virginian and had a four times great uncle in the Virginia Legislature. My background is in geology with an undergrad minor in geography. Geography matters, but so does history! The place where the Civil War really was brother against brother was the South Branch Valley. I have done geologic field work there during two periods and you can encounter earthworks with got away seeded fruit and nut trees in the back trenches in the strangest, but logical places.
Patrick Henry was looked upon as a kind of hick by the Tidewater folk. Interesting to men is the way that Jefferson was so westward oriented in his thinking. But he was t sedentary in the ways to think about going there himself. Unlike Washington, another westward looking man, He had claims along the Ohio in Virginia. Wild country in those days.
9:09 "Virginia has far larger and more metropolitan cities than Virginia."
🤔
5:10 West Virginia was settled by AI according to the symbols on the map?
Can you do a FL population analysis where the vast majority live off the panhandle?
As a person from West Virginia I will forever be piss that we passed on the name Vandalia
They considered Kanawha too. Guess a pass on that is ok bc no one would know how to pronounce it outside of the state.
@@InvertInteriors Potomac would have been much better
Charleston 46,000 people kanawha county 178,000 people but you’re right about the metropolitan area not quite sure how they come up with that but it must encompass several counties ?
How can they claim a land that was already inhabited?
Guns. And smallpox. Not justifying it, just stating what happened.
No one owned the land
@@Foggybottom45543 says who? The colonizers?
Because the other people lost
One the map at 1:43, I saw a large group of islands at roughly the same latitude as Virginia, but in the middle of the Atlantic. They seem too large to be Bermuda, but I could be wrong. Any ideas?
Probably the Azores. Bermuda is only one island, and it lies more to the south (far east off the coast of SC)
Yep! I was confused as a child growing up in Virginia that there was a West Virginia. Lol
Nice
Shout out to Virginia ❤️
❤
I have a friend from West Virginia who claims to be a Consitiutional Originalist. When I bring up that his state was created by a Constitutional Amendment that would be considered social reforms today(abolition), he just gets a blank look on his face and changes the subject.
I was born in Bath County on the Virginia side of the line. It’s very similar to WVA, including sending delegates to Richmond with instructions not to secede. Still not entirely sure why it’s not part of West Virginia.
they can have your poor county
Bath is a beautiful county so I'm glad it stayed in Virginia. But yes, it doesn't really make sense.
You should do one on Florida and West Florida. I'm mean Louisiana
Kentucky was also Part of Virgina, Many moons ago.
I'm originally from Florida, raised in a military family. When we moved to Connecticut, a friend of mine claimed he was from the South because he was from West Virginia. He actually lived in the Eastern part of West Virginia that mixed in with Maryland for 5 years but, come to find, he was born and raised in Minnesota. Long story short the guy was a clown that liked to rob people behind their backs, so made sense he didn't know West Virginia broke away from the South to become a part of the Union.
Something can't be 'very unique'
Interesting. So there is a precedent of a state being created from an existing state. Hmmm? I think there are several areas of the US that want this to happen again (maybe) -- Colorado, Oregon, Washington.
Oof, I knew that pronunciation of Norfolk was coming 😂
Arlington county was the opposite… in 1840s when the south part of DC saw slavery may be abolished, it voted to be reintegrated into Virginia. It was integrated in Alexandria, but later northern Alexandria became Arlington county. Named after the Arlington House, confederate general Robert Edward Lee’s and Custis estate, which was converted into a cemetery by union troops. Even in the 1920s, Arlington was known for the many dairy farms. Now it’s home to Ronald Regan DCA airport, the Pentagon, Arlington national cemetery, the Air Force memorial, the marine corps memorial statue… in the 1960s, it was the first county in Virginia to desegregate black students which the rest of the state did by the early 70s. It’s the smallest county in the US and one of the wealthiest.
I always thought that the federal government should have reannexed that part of Alexandria that was ceded to Virginia for the purpose of having slave auctions outside of the national capital.
its like that movie, the front virginia and the back virginia.
Where I lived in WV we sent more men to fight for the Confederacy than we did the Union. Heck, there's a Confederate soldier monument in Hinton to this day.
Good video but actually Huntington is WV’s largest metro at 360,000. Also, no video ever points out how Virginia’s economy was built from huge investments from the federal government. No state can compete with that.
Charleston is the largest city, beating Huntington by over 1,000 people.
@@dianakidd4219 But the Huntington Metro Area (which includes Ashland KY and other surrounding areas) is larger than Charleston.
@@bkraft
Yes, you are correct. I was just talking about the city of Huntington
That's where I am 🙂
Whats hilarious is the amount of southern flags flying in WV.
Why doesn’t the state of Virginia further split up 🆙 to East Virginia where Norfolk and the beach 🏝️ are?
Though not native...grew up in Falls Church Va
As a West Virginia, we look forward to Virginia rejoining the fold and becoming Mountaineers once again.
Uh, no WE don’t. Stay over there..we are the BEST Virginia!
@@mochalattemiss haha. Good point
If anything, Virginia will just take its chunk of DC land since I keep hearing that they want representation and MD and take their chunk back as well.
@@ldc3214 Nah, that is NEVER going to happen. DC will be a state within a decade, and so will PR. Neither Virginia nor MD wants DC’s nearly 100% democratic voters.
The law was broken in order to allow West Virginia to split off.
No, the war settled the matter.
How did Virgina lose the Kentucky part of the state?
I can only guess it is for the same reason the United States has 2 Carolinas, and 2Dakotas, and 2 St. Louis ( although they are not Stately ). I would also assume the same reason the USA has many dual named cities. Happy Now. Get som needed rest since you worked hard finding 2 Virginia's. By Now, LCG
And Next Up in "what you missed when you fell asleep in high school history class and didn't bother studying because you were lazy" ...
"the Missoiri compromise ..."
Do you have any thoughts on flat earth theory?
How much of West Virginias poverty is caused by its resources and politicians being controlled by out of state corporations, including from Virginia?
There’s south West Virginia and then there’s southwest Virginia. Two different places, but try living in either with fam in the other. You’re never sure which is meant at first.
6:53 This map is misleading, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri stayed neutral during the Civil War and when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the border states (which now included West Virginia) were allowed to keep their slaves because Lincoln didn’t want them to fall into the Confederacy if they took their slaves away and waited until the passage of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery all together
Why does the USA have 2 Carolinas? Why 2 Dakotas? Why are New England states so small? Why is Michigan have a small part just above Wisconsin? Why do Missouri and Louisiana look like boots? Why does Oklahoma look like a frying pan? Why do Colorado and Wyoming look alike?
It’s called Google, use it
Well I am not sure of your point but I am sure Google is not the reason for that.@@jstoli996c4s
West Virginia should either become apart of another state or broken up between other states with better connectivity with the regions nearby.
That's great but now I'm asking why there's three Californias? California in the United States, and Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur in Mexico.
Little California in PA also
@@GS-zv3qn I didn't know about that.
I'm from Fredericksburg. Live in Maine now but ive been saying forever that WV never lost its culture unlike VA. Also for those that don't know WV has some of the most beautiful land this country has to offer imo.
West Virginia has more mountains than any state. You are right. We never lost our culture.
Virginia joined the rat race. I lived in NOVA as a kid and you could NEVER convince me to move back to that area again. I live within an easy access to Fredericksburg, Virginia and I love the slower pace vibe.
@@ldc3214
I live in West Virginia. Very slow pace, people are so friendly. I moved to Florida for 20 years. It’s good to be back to these country roads that brought me home.
@@ldc3214 Yea Fredericksburg wasn't bad but now you got D.C. guys overrunning that area now
Wrong. WVians fly confederate flags. It's a "right to work," red state. Trust me, current WV has no clue about its culture and it is only really taught to Golden Horseshoe students, which are few and far between.
The proper name is "Less East Virginia"
Because John Denver singing “Country roads, take me
home, to the place I was born…Virginia!” wouldn’t sound right! 😂