Virginia was named after England's Queen Elizabeth I, who was known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married. West Virginia was so named because it was carved out of Virginia's western frontier.

Location one of the Southern States
Bordered By Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland

Total Area (rank) 24,231 sq mi (41st)
Greatest Distance E-W 265 mi
Greatest Distance N-S 237 mi
Geographic Center 4 miles east of Sutton
Highest Point Spruce Knob; 4,862 ft
Lowest Point along the Potomac River in Jefferson County; 240 ft

Population (rank) 1,854,304 (38th)
Largest Cities Charleston (51,400), Huntington (49,138), Parkersburg (31,492), Wheeling (28,486), Morgantown (29,660), Weirton (19,746), Fairmont (18,704), Beckley (17,614), Martinsburg (17,227), Clarksburg (16,578)

Capital Charleston
U.S. Congress 2 Senators, 3 Representatives
Local Administration 55 counties

Principal Industries manufacturing, services, mining, tourism
Agricultural Products apples, peaches, hay, tobacco, corn, wheat, oats; dairy products, eggs; cattle, hogs/pigs, sheep, chickens
Nonfuel Minerals crushed stone, portland cement, salt

First Explored By John Lederer, about 1669
First Permanent Settlement New Mecklenburg (now Shepherdstown), by Germans from Pennsylvania, in 1727
Admitted to Union (rank) June 20, 1863 (35th)

SEE ALSO
Queen Elizabeth I
Virginia
Kentucky
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Maryland

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This page was last updated on June 19, 2017.