213-630: Interstate 77 ( I-77 ) in the US state of West Virginia is a major north–south Interstate Highway . It extends for 187.21 miles (301.29 km) between Bluefield at the Virginia state line and Williamstown at the Ohio state line. The highway serves Charleston , the capital and largest city in West Virginia; it also serves the cities of Princeton , Beckley , and Parkersburg . I-77 follows
426-569: A civil engineer and mining manager in Fayette County . Former West Virginia governor William A. MacCorkle described him as a man who knew the land "as a farmer knows a field". Beginning in 1898, Page teamed with northern and European-based investors to take advantage of the undeveloped area. They acquired large tracts of land in the area, and Page began the Deepwater Railway , a short-line railroad chartered to stretch between
639-548: A tristate area , with Wheeling , Weirton , and Morgantown just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Huntington in the southwest is close to Ohio and Kentucky, while Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry in the eastern panhandle region are considered part of the Washington metropolitan area, between Maryland and Virginia. West Virginia is often included in several U.S. geographical regions, including
852-446: A brief segment from milepost 56.15 near Long Branch to milepost 59.63 (exit 60, Mossy ) and from milepost 62.27 near Kingston to milepost 66.51 (exit 66, Mahan ). In 1982, the modernization of the turnpike from milepost 52.2 just south of Willis Branch to milepost 6.12 near Lively was completed, this also involved construction of a new exit 89. A second Kanawha River Bridge near Malden and
1065-687: A company of gentlemen the land between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, known as the Northern Neck . Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron ultimately took possession of this grant, and in 1746 a stone was erected at the source of the North Branch Potomac River to mark his grant's western limit. George Washington surveyed a considerable part of this land between 1748 and 1751. His diary recorded that there were already many squatters, largely of German origin, along
1278-531: A compromise demanded by the Kanawha region (Charleston lawyers Benjamin Smith and Brown) allowed counties and municipalities to vote subsidies for railroads or other improvement organizations. The resulting instrument was ratified (18,162 for and 514 against) on April 11, 1862. On May 13, 1862, the state legislature of the reorganized government approved the formation of the new state. An application for admission to
1491-519: A constitution for the new state, beginning on November 26, 1861. During that constitutional convention, a Mr. Lamb of Ohio County and a Mr. Carskadon claimed that in Hampshire County, out of 195 votes only 39 were cast by citizens of the state; the rest were cast illegally by Union soldiers. One of the key figures was Gordon Battelle , who also represented Ohio County, and who proposed resolutions to establish public schools, as well as to limit
1704-565: A constitutional convention met in Richmond to consider reforms to Virginia's outdated constitution. Philip Doddridge of Brooke County championed the cause of western Virginians who sought a more democratic frame of government, but western reforms were rejected by leaders from east of the Alleghenies who "clung to political power in an effort to preserve their plantation lifestyles dependent on enslaving blacks". Virginia leaders maintained
1917-531: A convention to meet in Wheeling on May 13, 1861. When this First Wheeling Convention met, 425 delegates from 25 counties were present, though more than one-third of the delegates were from the northern panhandle area. Soon there was a division of sentiment. Some delegates led by pro-Union slaveowner John S. Carlile favored the immediate formation of a new state, while others led by Waitman Willey argued that, as Virginia's secession had not yet been passed by
2130-803: A few days later. The state legislature subsequently affirmed the judge's decision and removed the Commission's power to set rates, reserving that power to itself. Greg Barr, General Manager of the West Virginia Parkways Authority, had said that, while other states had dramatically increased their tolls over the past few years, the West Virginia Turnpike had not experienced any rate hikes in over two decades. However, tolls were increased by 60 percent (from $ 1.25 to $ 2 at each barrier) in 2009 and again by 100 percent (to $ 4.00 at each barrier) in 2019. In 2013,
2343-624: A flat rye bread called "bannock" as they emerged from the protohistoric era. A horizon extending from a little before the early 18th century is sometimes called the acculturating Fireside Cabin culture . Trading posts were established by European traders along the Potomac and James rivers . Tribes that inhabited West Virginia as of 1600 were the Siouan Monongahela Culture to the north, the Fort Ancient culture along
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#17327727986602556-514: A four-lane freeway. I-77's first exit in West Virginia is 0.6 miles (0.97 km) north of the state line; US 52 leaves the highway here. I-77 then turns to the northeast and comes to a partial interchange with West Virginia Route 112 (WV 112) in Ingleside . Changing its course to a more northerly alignment, I-77 reaches another partial interchange serving County Route 27 (CR 27). It then continues north toward Princeton , which
2769-438: A fourth of the registered voters cast votes. In most of what would become West Virginia, there was no vote at all, as two-thirds of the territory of West Virginia had voted for secession, and county officers remained loyal to Richmond. Votes recorded from pro-secession counties were mostly cast elsewhere by Unionist refugees from these counties. Despite that controversy, delegates (including many Methodist ministers) met to write
2982-472: A fragile ecosystem known as the Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest . Fraser fir rarely occurs below 5,500 ft (1,700 m), and becomes the dominant tree type at 6,200 ft (1,900 m). By contrast, balsam fir is found from near sea level to the tree line in the northern Appalachians, but ranges only as far south as Virginia and West Virginia in the central Appalachians, where it
3195-735: A great thickness of sediment accumulated. Eventually, the tectonic forces pulling the two continents apart became so strong that an ocean formed off the eastern coast of the Laurentian margin. This was called the Iapetus Ocean and was the precursor of the modern Atlantic Ocean. The rocks of the Valley and Ridge province formed over millions of years, in the Iapetus. Shells and other hard parts of ancient marine plants and animals accumulated to form limey deposits that later became limestone. This
3408-526: A highway stretching from Parkersburg to Princeton , while another map diagrammed a route from Wheeling to Princeton. Both of these plans, however, were shelved in a 1951 study, citing the extreme costs of building a modern highway through very unforgiving terrain as the primary reason. The study recommended that the northern terminus be moved to Fairplain just outside Ripley and that the southern terminus remain in Princeton. The study also suggested that
3621-657: A joint resolution recognizing the transfer. The Supreme Court decided in West Virginia's favor in 1870. The original charters for Maryland and Virginia were silent as to which branch of the upper Potomac was the boundary. This was settled by the 1785 Mount Vernon Conference . Nevertheless, when West Virginia seceded from Virginia, Maryland claimed West Virginia land north of the South Branch (all of Mineral and Grant Counties and parts of Hampshire , Hardy , Tucker and Pendleton Counties). The Supreme Court rejected these claims in two separate decisions in 1910. During
3834-467: A large road cut in the mountain, leaving the other two lanes in the tunnel, and replacement of the entire tunnel with an open cut to the north. Citing the high maintenance costs of a tunnel, the replacement option was ultimately chosen. "The biggest relief will be from our utility crews, who had to maintain the electrical systems and so forth in the tunnel", Turnpike Commission Chair George McIntryre said. "It will make all of our jobs easier as far as traffic
4047-542: A new debt approaching $ 50 million (equivalent to $ 115 million in 2023). Consequently, tolls were held at former rates, ranging from $ 3.75 to $ 12 (equivalent to $ 10 to $ 32 in 2023) per one-way through trip. There are three toll barriers along the turnpike. As of January 2022, passenger cars with two axles pay $ 4.25 at each barrier. There is also a toll plaza at exit 48, which charges $ 0.75 for passenger cars exiting northbound and entering southbound. Rates for larger vehicles are higher. The West Virginia Turnpike
4260-672: A new ocean opened up, the Rheic Ocean , during the Middle to Late Devonian, and subsequently its closure would result in the formation of the Alleghanian orogeny . As the continental plates moved closer together, fragments of oceanic crust, islands, and other continental masses collided with the eastern margin of ancestral North America. By this time, plants had appeared on land, followed by scorpions, insects, and amphibians. The ocean continued to shrink until, about 270 million years ago,
4473-504: A number of deciduous rhododendrons (azaleas), and smaller heaths such as teaberry ( Gaultheria procumbens ) and trailing arbutus ( Epigaea repens ). The evergreen great rhododendron ( Rhododendron maximum ) is characteristic of moist stream valleys. These occurrences are in line with the prevailing acidic character of most oak forest soils. In contrast, the much rarer chinquapin oak ( Quercus muehlenbergii ) demands alkaline soils and generally grows where limestone rock
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#17327727986604686-444: A number of serious insect and disease outbreaks. Among the most conspicuous is that of the introduced spongy moth ( Lymantria dispar ), which infests primarily oaks, causing severe defoliation and tree mortality. But it also has the benefit of eliminating weak individuals, and thus improving the genetic stock, as well as creating rich habitat of a type through accumulation of dead wood. Because hardwoods sprout so readily, this moth
4899-509: A popular vote on the formation of a new state and for a convention to frame a constitution if the vote were favorable. In the October 24, 1861, election, 18,408 votes were cast for the new state and 781 against. The election results were questioned since the Union army then occupied the area and Union troops were stationed at many of the polls to prevent Confederate sympathizers from voting. This
5112-486: A property qualification for suffrage , effectively disenfranchising poorer farmers in the west whose families did much of the farm work themselves. In addition, the 1829–30 convention gave slaveholding counties the benefit of three-fifths of their slave population in apportioning the state's representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. As a result, every county west of the Alleghenies except one voted to reject
5325-640: A provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted in its constitution (as Battelle had urged in the Wheeling Intelligencer and also written to Lincoln). While many felt West Virginia's admission as a state was both illegal and unconstitutional, Lincoln issued his Opinion on the Admission of West Virginia finding that "the body which consents to the admission of West Virginia is the Legislature of Virginia", and that its admission
5538-618: A rival state government and two U.S. senators (Willey and Carlile) to replace secessionists before adjourning. The federal government promptly recognized the new government and seated the two new senators. Thus there were two state governments in Virginia: one pledging allegiance to the United States and one to the Confederacy . The second Wheeling Convention had recessed until August 6, then reassembled on August 20 and called for
5751-554: A segment from the southern terminus of the turnpike at milepost 8.97 (exit 9, US 460) to milepost 10.6 in Mercer County was reconstructed. In the same year, the Raleigh County segment from milepost 40.73 (exit 40, I-64) to milepost 43.83 (exit 44, WV 3 ) was dualized, and the segment from milepost 47.95 (exit 48, to US 19) to milepost 52.2 (Toll Plaza B at Pax )
5964-472: A single stretch of highway in 1968. The final cost for the entire modernization of the West Virginia Turnpike was $ 683 million (equivalent to $ 1.57 billion in 2023), more than $ 300 million (equivalent to $ 690 million in 2023) over original estimates. It was also one of the few Interstates that received 90-percent federal funding and permission to charge a toll, due to extremely high construction costs. A total of 18 interchanges now exist on
6177-518: A theater, and storytelling performances. It also contains a cafeteria-style restaurant . West Virginia West Virginia is a landlocked state in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States . It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast, Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. West Virginia is
6390-477: A third of the amount due to the new state early in the 20th century, West Virginia was faced with retiring its share of Virginia's antebellum debt for the earlier turnpikes (and canals and railroads) even as the citizens needed and sought better roads. With the completion of the earliest portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1940, the desire for such a superhighway in West Virginia took hold. By
6603-460: A two-lane tunnel to connect Dawes to Standard . The year 1953 kicked off a period of intense earthmoving that at its peak reached a million cubic yards [0.76 × 10 ^ m] a week and totaled 30,000,000 cubic yards [23 × 10 ^ m]. Construction took two years at the cost of five lives. The first section of the highway, the southern 36 miles (58 km) from Beckley to Princeton, opened to traffic on September 2, 1954. In November,
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6816-544: A variety of oaks ( Quercus spp.), hickories ( Carya spp.) and, in the past, by the American chestnut ( Castanea dentata ). The American chestnut was virtually eliminated as a canopy species by the introduced fungal chestnut blight ( Cryphonectaria parasitica ), but lives on as sapling-sized sprouts that originate from roots, which are not killed by the fungus. In present-day forest canopies, chestnut has been largely replaced by oaks. The oak forests of
7029-575: A whole, but in the western counties 34,677 voted against and 19,121 voted for the ordinance. The Second Wheeling Convention met as agreed on June 11 and declared that, since the Secession Convention had been called without popular consent, all its acts were void and all who adhered to it had vacated their offices. The Wheeling Conventions, and the delegates themselves, were never actually elected by public ballot to act on behalf of western Virginia. Of its 103 members, 33 had been elected to
7242-548: A wide range of outdoor recreational opportunities, including skiing , whitewater rafting , fishing , hiking , backpacking , mountain biking , rock climbing , and hunting . From the Great Depression to the 1990s, the state voted heavily for the Democratic Party due to its tradition of union-based politics. Since then, the state has become heavily Republican , and is considered a "deep red" state at
7455-501: Is bituminous coal , and the official state gemstone is silicified Mississippian fossil Lithostrotionella coral. The limestone also produced a useful quarry industry. Usually small, and softer, high-calcium seams were burned to produce industrial lime. This lime was used for agricultural and construction purposes; for many years a specific portion of the C & O Railroad carried limestone rock to Clifton Forge, Virginia as an industrial flux. Salt mining had been underway since
7668-483: Is a boreal species that forms a few high elevation outliers as far south as West Virginia. All of these species except white pine tend to occupy sandy, rocky, poor soil sites, which are mostly acidic in character. White pine, a large species valued for its timber, tends to do best in rich, moist soil, either acidic or alkaline in character. Pitch pine is also at home in acidic, boggy soil, and Table Mountain pine may occasionally be found in this habitat as well. Shortleaf pine
7881-463: Is a member of the E-ZPass electronic toll collection consortium, allowing members to attach a transponder to their windshield or front bumper and pay electronically. West Virginia E-ZPass members can pay a flat annual fee for unlimited travel on the West Virginia Turnpike. The Parkways Authority briefly raised toll rates on January 1, 2006, but a state judge found the hike to be illegal, rescinding it
8094-807: Is also the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River . The range is older than the other major mountain range in North America, the Rocky Mountains of the west. Some of the outcrops in the Appalachians contain rocks formed during the Precambrian era. The geologic processes that led to the formation of the Appalachian Mountains started 1.1 billion years ago. The first mountain range in
8307-673: Is an extension of this hiking trail into the Canadian portion of the Appalachian range in New Brunswick and Quebec . While exploring inland along the northern coast of Florida in 1528, the members of the Narváez expedition , including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca , found a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida whose name they transcribed as Apalchen or Apalachen [a.paˈla.tʃɛn] . The name
8520-537: Is concerned on the turnpike." The 1.72-mile (2.77 km) bypass would bypass both the tunnel and the Bender Bridge which crossed Paint Creek just to the east of the tunnel portal. On July 6, 1987, the Memorial Tunnel officially closed, and two lanes of the open cut just to the north of it were opened. The other two lanes of the open cut were completed in late August. State Trooper W. D. Thomson became
8733-403: Is found at high elevations in the northern Appalachians, and in bogs as far south as Pennsylvania. The Appalachians are also home to two species of fir, the boreal balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ), and the southern high elevation endemic, Fraser fir ( Abies fraseri ). Fraser fir is endemic to the highest parts of the southern Appalachian Mountains, where along with red spruce it forms
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8946-533: Is generally found in warmer habitats and at lower elevations than the other species. All the species listed do best in open or lightly shaded habitats, although white pine also thrives in shady coves, valleys, and on floodplains. The Appalachians are characterized by a wealth of large, beautiful deciduous broadleaf (hardwood) trees. Their occurrences are best summarized and described in E. Lucy Braun 's 1950 classic, Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America (Macmillan, New York). The most diverse and richest forests are
9159-414: Is near the surface. Hence no ericaceous shrubs are associated with it. The Appalachian flora also include a diverse assemblage of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), as well as fungi . Some species are rare and/or endemic. As with vascular plants , these tend to be closely related to the character of the soils and the thermal environment in which they are found. Eastern deciduous forests are subject to
9372-465: Is not as harmful as the hemlock woolly adelgid . Perhaps more serious is the introduced beech bark disease complex, which includes both a scale insect ( Cryptococcus fagisuga ) and fungal components. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Appalachian forests were subject to severe and destructive logging and land clearing, which resulted in the designation of the national forests and parks as well many state-protected areas. However, these and
9585-527: Is now the southern United States, the Ococee Basin was formed. Seawater filled the basin. Rivers from the surrounding countryside carried clay, silt, sand, and gravel to the basin, much as rivers today carry sediment from the midcontinent region to the Gulf of Mexico. The sediment spread out in layers on the basin floor. The basin continued to subside, and over a long period of time, probably millions of years,
9798-721: Is one followed by the United States Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada to describe the respective countries' physiographic regions. The U.S. uses the term Appalachian Highlands and Canada uses the term Appalachian Uplands ; the Appalachian Mountains are not synonymous with the Appalachian Plateau , which is one of the provinces of the Appalachian Highlands. The Appalachian range runs from
10011-552: Is possible that the cratons of Kalahari , and Rio Plato , were also part of that early collision since they were present as Rodinia broke up). Mountain-building referred to as the Grenville Orogeny occurred along the boundaries of the cratons. The present Appalachian Mountains have at least two areas which are made from rock formations that were formed during this orogeny - the Blue Ridge Mountains and
10224-821: Is served by an exit for WV 14. I-77 then crosses the Ohio River into Marietta, Ohio , on the Marietta–Williamstown Interstate Bridge . In the antebellum years before West Virginia separated from Virginia, development of adequate roads was a major area of conflict between the western regions and the east. Through the Virginia Board of Public Works , the Virginia state government helped finance turnpikes among its programs to encourage internal improvements , with tolls collected to defray operating costs and retire debt. Principal among these
10437-462: Is served by an interchange with US 460 . Here, I-77 becomes the West Virginia Turnpike, which it remains through Charleston . The highway continues northward through rural Mercer County, roughly following US 19 . After passing over WV 20 with no access, the space between the northbound and southbound roadways widens. The two roadways reunite at a point north of an interchange for CR 7 and WV 20 near Gardner . Continuing north,
10650-645: Is subject to the hemlock woolly adelgid ( Adelges tsugae ), an introduced insect, that is rapidly extirpating it as a forest tree. Less abundant, and restricted to the southern Appalachians, is Carolina hemlock ( Tsuga caroliniana ). Like Canada hemlock, this tree suffers severely from the hemlock woolly adelgid. Several species of pines characteristic of the Appalachians are eastern white pine ( Pinus strobus ), Virginia pine ( Pinus virginiana ), pitch pine ( Pinus rigida ), Table Mountain pine ( Pinus pungens ) and shortleaf pine ( Pinus echinata ). Red pine ( Pinus resinosa )
10863-506: Is the same process by which limestone forms in modern oceans. The weathering of limestone, now exposed at the land surface, produces the lime-rich soils that are so prevalent in the fertile farmland of the Valley and Ridge province. During this continental break-up, around 600 million to 560 million years ago, volcanic activity was present along the tectonic margins. There is evidence of this activity in today's Blue Ridge Mountains. Mount Rogers , Whitetop Mountain , and Pine Mountain are all
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#173277279866011076-505: Is the second toll plaza on the turnpike. Continuing in a northwest direction, I-77 comes to an interchange with WV 612 near Mossy . Immediately after the northbound exit, the median narrows and changes to a Jersey barrier . This section of the road until Chelyan has a large number of curves, and it passes the Morton Service Area. The turnpike crosses into Kanawha County near Standard shortly afterward. Curving to
11289-408: Is usually confined above 3,900 ft (1,200 m) asl, except in cold valleys. Curiously, it is associated with oaks in Virginia. The balsam fir of Virginia and West Virginia is thought by some to be a natural hybrid between the more northern variety and Fraser fir. While red spruce is common in both upland and bog habitats, balsam fir, as well as black spruce and tamarack, are more characteristic of
11502-572: The 10th-smallest state by area and ranks as the 12th-least populous state , with a population of 1,793,716 residents. The capital and most populous city is Charleston with a population of 49,055. West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key border state during the American Civil War . It was the only state to form by separating from a Confederate state, one of two states (along with Nevada ) admitted to
11715-713: The 35th Street Bridge and WV 114 , the latter of which provides access to the West Virginia State Capitol . The route then enters downtown Charleston and crosses the Elk River before separating from I-64 at an interchange in north Charleston. I-77 heads northeasterly along the river until it meets the southern terminus of I-79 near Yeager Airport . I-77 then heads north into rural Kanawha County. After passing interchanges with CR 27, CR 29, WV 622 , and CR 21 in Sissonville ,
11928-628: The Adirondacks . After the Grenville orogeny, the direction of the continental drift reversed, and the single supercontinent Rodinia began to break up. The mountains formed during the Grenvillian era underwent erosion due to weathering, glaciation, and other natural processes, resulting in the leveling of the landscape. The eroded sediments from these mountains contributed to the formation of sedimentary basins and valleys. For example, in what
12141-596: The Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania . The bituminous coal fields of western Pennsylvania , western Maryland , southeastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia , and West Virginia contain the sedimentary form of coal. The mountain top removal method of coal mining , in which entire mountain tops are removed, is currently threatening vast areas and ecosystems of the Appalachian Mountain region. The surface coal mining that started in
12354-437: The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). The landforms are referred to as physiographic regions. The regions create precise boundaries from which maps can be drawn. The Appalachian Highlands is the name of one of the eight physiographic regions of the contiguous 48 United States. The Appalachian Uplands is the name of one of seven physiographic regions of Canada. The second level in the physiographic classification schema for
12567-758: The Gulf of Mexico . In the central section, north of the New River, the rivers, rising in or just beyond the Valley Ridges, flow through great gorges to the Great Valley, and then across the Blue Ridge to tidal estuaries penetrating the coastal plain via the Roanoke River, James River , Potomac River , and Susquehanna River . In the northern section the height of land lies on the inland side of
12780-661: The Iapetus Ocean , from the North America/Europe collision (See Caledonian orogeny ). By the end of the Mesozoic Era , the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost flat plain. It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic Era that the distinctive topography of the present formed. Uplift rejuvenated the streams, which rapidly responded by cutting downward into the ancient bedrock. Some streams flowed along weak layers that define
12993-603: The Industrial Revolution in the U.S. and the steamships of many of the world's navies. The residents (both Native Americans and early European settlers) had long known of the underlying coal, and that it could be used for heating and fuel. However, for a long time, "personal" or artisanal mining was the only practical development. After the War, with the new railroads came a practical method to transport large quantities of coal to expanding U.S. and export markets. As
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#173277279866013206-613: The Island of Newfoundland in Canada, 2,050 mi (3,300 km) southwestward to Central Alabama in the United States; south of Newfoundland, it crosses the 96-square-mile (248.6 km ) archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an overseas collectivity of France , meaning it is technically in three countries. The highest peak of the mountain range is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet (2,037 m), which
13419-428: The North American craton . Volcanoes grew along the continental margin coincident with the initiation of subduction . Thrust faulting uplifted and warped older sedimentary rock laid down on the passive margin. As the mountains rose, erosion began to wear them down over time. Streams carried rock debris downslope to be deposited in nearby lowlands. The Taconic orogeny ended after about 60 million years, but built much of
13632-412: The Ohio River in 1872 opened access to the New River Coal Field. Soon, the C&O was building its huge coal pier at Newport News, Virginia , on the large harbor of Hampton Roads . In 1881, the new Philadelphia-based owners of the former Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O), which stretched across Virginia's southern tier from Norfolk , had sights clearly set on West Virginia, where
13845-606: The Restored Government . Most voted to separate from Virginia, and the new state was admitted to the Union in 1863. In 1864 a state constitutional convention drafted a constitution, which was ratified by the legislature without putting it to popular vote. West Virginia abolished slavery by a gradual process and temporarily disenfranchised those who had held Confederate office or fought for the Confederacy. West Virginia's history has been profoundly affected by its mountainous terrain, numerous and vast river valleys, and rich natural resources. These were all factors driving its economy and
14058-493: The South Branch Potomac River . Christopher Gist , a surveyor in the employ of the first Ohio Company , which was composed chiefly of Virginians, explored the country along the Ohio River north of the mouth of the Kanawha River between 1751 and 1752. The company sought to have a 14th colony established with the name " Vandalia ". Many settlers crossed the mountains after 1750, though they were hindered by Native American resistance. Few Native Americans lived permanently within
14271-400: The Virginia Board of Public Works . Virginians—led by former Confederate general William Mahone —formed a political coalition based upon this: the Readjuster Party . West Virginia's first constitution provided for the assumption of a part of the Virginia debt, but negotiations opened by Virginia in 1870 were fruitless, and in 1871 Virginia funded two-thirds of the debt and arbitrarily assigned
14484-450: The Virginia Colony , sent a party from Fort Henry led by Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam to survey this territory. They were the first Europeans recorded as discovering Kanawha Falls . Some sources state that Governor Alexander Spotswood 's 1716 Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition (for which the state's Golden Horseshoe Competition for 8th graders is named) had penetrated as far as Pendleton County , but modern historians interpret
14697-412: The Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 voted to secede from the Union, but of the 49 delegates from the northwestern corner (which ultimately became West Virginia) only 17 voted in favor of the Ordinance of Secession , while 30 voted against (with two abstentions). Almost immediately after that vote, a mass meeting at Clarksburg recommended that each county in northwestern Virginia send delegates to
14910-576: The West Virginia House of Delegates voted in support of a resolution to remove tolls on the turnpike by 2020, but the West Virginia Parkways Authority resolved in 2016 to continue charging tolls after that date. Tamarack Marketplace, located at the Beckley service area, is an arts and crafts outlet that draws over 500,000 visitors a year. Tamarack features juried West Virginia craft products, including handcrafts, pottery, jewelry, fine arts, and products made from textiles, glass, metal, and wood. There are live artisan demonstrations as well as live music,
15123-420: The anthracite mines of northwestern New Jersey and Pennsylvania began to play out during this same time period, investors and industrialists focused new interest in West Virginia. Geologists such as Dr. David T. Ansted surveyed potential coal fields and invested in land and early mining projects. The completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) across the state to the new city of Huntington on
15336-660: The eastern seaboard of the United States and the Midwest region of the country. The Eastern Continental Divide follows the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The Appalachians, particularly the Central and Southern regions, is one of the most biodiverse places in North America. The north–south orientation of the long ridges and valleys contributes to the high number of plant and animal species. Species were able to migrate through these from either direction during alternating periods of warming and cooling, settling in
15549-1552: The mixed-mesophytic or medium-moisture types, which are largely confined to rich, moist montane soils of the southern and central Appalachians, particularly in the Cumberland and Allegheny Mountains, but also thrive in the southern Appalachian coves. Characteristic canopy species are white basswood ( Tilia heterophylla ), yellow buckeye ( Aesculus octandra ), sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ), American beech ( Fagus grandifolia ), tuliptree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ), white ash ( Fraxinus americana ) and yellow birch ( Betula alleganiensis ). Other common trees are red maple ( Acer rubrum ), shagbark and bitternut hickories ( Carya ovata and C. cordiformis ) and black or sweet birch ( Betula lenta ). Small understory trees and shrubs include paw paw ( Asimina tribola ), flowering dogwood ( Cornus florida ), hophornbeam ( Ostrya virginiana ), witch-hazel ( Hamamelis virginiana ) and spicebush ( Lindera benzoin ). There are also hundreds of perennial and annual herbs, among them such herbal and medicinal plants as American ginseng ( Panax quinquefolius ), goldenseal ( Hydrastis canadensis ), bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis ) and black cohosh ( Cimicifuga racemosa ). The foregoing trees, shrubs, and herbs are also more widely distributed in less rich mesic forests that generally occupy coves, stream valleys and flood plains throughout
15762-472: The "most majestic feature of the highway", was becoming a bottleneck in the otherwise four-lane highway. By 1986, the Turnpike Commission was spending over $ 500,000 per year (equivalent to $ 1.18 million per year in 2023) to maintain the lights and the automatic exhaust equipment in the tunnel. Several options were considered, including dualization of the tunnels, addition of two lanes through
15975-465: The 18th century, though it had largely played out by the time of the American Civil War, when the red salt of Kanawha County was a valued commodity of first Confederate, and later Union, forces. In the years following, more sophisticated mining methods would restore West Virginia's role as a major producer of salt. However, in the second half of the 19th century, there was an even greater treasure not yet developed: bituminous coal . It would fuel much of
16188-596: The 1940s has significantly impacted the central Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky , Tennessee , Virginia and West Virginia. Early mining methods were unregulated and mined land reclamation research, including acid base reaction , was led by the West Virginia University in the 1960s and 1970s. West Virginia developed rigorous mine reclamation standards for state coal mines in the late 1960s. Regulations were introduced by most federal states to protect
16401-539: The American Revolution, the movement to create a state beyond the Alleghenies was revived and a petition for the establishment of " Westsylvania " was presented to Congress , on the grounds that the mountains presented an almost impassable barrier to the east. The rugged terrain made slavery unprofitable, and time only increased the social, political, economic, and cultural differences ( see Tuckahoes and Cohees ) between Virginia's two sections. In 1829,
16614-564: The Appalachian Basin. Some plateaus of the Appalachian Mountains contain metallic minerals such as iron and zinc . There are many geological issues concerning the rivers and streams of the Appalachians. In spite of the existence of the Great Appalachian Valley, many of the main rivers are transverse to the mountain system axis. The drainage divide of the Appalachians follows a tortuous course that crosses
16827-627: The Appalachian Mountains by the late 1960s. Social and political activism brought about the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 . The 1859 discovery of commercial quantities of petroleum in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania started the modern United States petroleum industry . Recent discoveries of commercial natural gas deposits in the Marcellus Shale formation and Utica Shale formations have once again focused oil industry attention on
17040-552: The Blue Ridge again reaches 2,000 ft (600 m) and higher. In the Virginia Blue Ridge, the following are some of the highest peaks north of the Roanoke River : Stony Man 4,031 ft (1,229 m), Hawksbill Mountain 4,066 ft (1,239 m), Apple Orchard Mountain 4,225 ft (1,288 m) and Peaks of Otter 4,001 and 3,875 ft (1,220 and 1,181 m). South of the Roanoke River, along
17253-738: The Blue Ridge, are Virginia's highest peaks including Whitetop Mountain 5,520 ft (1,680 m) and Mount Rogers 5,729 ft (1,746 m), the highest point in the Commonwealth. Chief summits in the southern section of the Blue Ridge are located along two main crests, the Western or Unaka Front along the Tennessee - North Carolina border and the Eastern Front in North Carolina, or one of several "cross ridges" between
17466-715: The C&;O and N&W presidents thought they could thus kill the Page project, they were to be proved mistaken. One of the silent partner investors Page had enlisted was millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers , a principal in John D. Rockefeller 's Standard Oil Trust and an old hand at developing natural resources and transportation. A master at competitive "warfare", Henry Rogers did not like to lose in his endeavors and also had "deep pockets" . Instead of giving up, Page (and Rogers) quietly planned and then built their tracks all
17679-629: The C&O at its line along the Kanawha River and the N&;W at Matoaka —a distance of about 80 miles (130 km). Although the Deepwater plan should have provided a competitive shipping market via either railroad, leaders of the two large railroads did not appreciate the scheme. In secret collusion, each declined to negotiate favorable rates with Page, nor did they offer to purchase his railroad, as they had many other short-lines. However, if
17892-618: The Civil War, Union General George B. McClellan 's forces gained possession of the greater part of the territory in the summer of 1861, culminating at the Battle of Rich Mountain , and Union control was never again seriously threatened. In 1863, General John D. Imboden , with 5,000 Confederates, raided a considerable portion of the state and burned Pierpont's library, although Willey escaped their grasp. Bands of guerrillas burned and plundered in some sections, and were not entirely suppressed until
18105-503: The Continental Army, showed war-weariness in what became West Virginia. Social conditions in western Virginia were entirely unlike those in the eastern part. The population was not homogeneous, as a considerable part of the immigration came by way of Pennsylvania and included Germans, Protestant Scotch-Irish , and settlers from states farther north. Counties in the east and south were settled mostly by eastern Virginians. During
18318-647: The Continental Congress to create a new territory called Westsylvania . With the federal settlement of the Pennsylvania and Virginia border dispute , creating Kentucky County, Virginia , Kentuckians "were satisfied [...] and the inhabitants of a large part of West Virginia were grateful." The Crown considered the area of West Virginia part of the British Virginia Colony from 1607 to 1776. The United States considered this area
18531-539: The General Assembly to reapportion representation based on the white population in 1865, or else put the matter to a public referendum. But the east also gave itself a tax advantage in requiring a property tax at true and actual value, except for slaves. Slaves under age 12 were not taxed and slaves over that age were taxed at only $ 300, a fraction of their true value, but small farmers had all their assets, animals, and land taxed at full value. Despite this tax and
18744-931: The Great Balsams. The Western Blue Ridge Front is subdivided into the Unaka Range , the Bald Mountains , the Great Smoky Mountains , and the Unicoi Mountains , and its major peaks include Roan Mountain 6,285 ft (1,916 m) in the Unakas, Big Bald 5,516 ft (1,681 m) and Max Patch 4,616 ft (1,407 m) in the Bald Mountains, Kuwohi 6,643 ft (2,025 m), Mount Le Conte 6,593 feet (2,010 m), and Mount Guyot 6,621 ft (2,018 m) in
18957-749: The Great Smokies, and Big Frog Mountain 4,224 ft (1,287 m) near the Tennessee- Georgia -North Carolina border. Prominent summits in the cross ridges include Waterrock Knob (6,292 ft (1,918 m)) in the Plott Balsams . Across northern Georgia, numerous peaks exceed 4,000 ft (1,200 m), including Brasstown Bald , the state's highest, at 4,784-and-4,696 ft (1,458-and-1,431 m) Rabun Bald . In north-central Alabama , Mount Cheaha rises prominently to 1,445 feet (440 m) over its surroundings, as part of
19170-896: The Iroquois Confederacy". The area now identified as West Virginia was contested territory among Anglo-Americans as well, with the colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia claiming territorial rights under their colonial charters to this area before the American Revolutionary War . Some speculative land companies, such as the Vandalia Company , the Ohio Company and the Indiana Company , tried but failed to legitimize their claims to land in parts of West Virginia and present-day Kentucky. This rivalry resulted in some settlers petitioning
19383-592: The Iroquois. They eventually settled somewhere between the Kanawha and Little Kanawha Rivers. During the 1750s, when the Mingo Seneca seceded from the Iroquois and returned to the Ohio River Valley, they contend that this tribe merged with them. The Shawnee arrived as well; though primarily stationed within former Monongahela territory approximately until 1750, they extended their influence throughout
19596-477: The Jackson County Line. West Virginia Paving, the sole bidder for the project, offered $ 51,252,637.96 on June 11, 2024. A contract for the project was awarded on June 27. At one point in the turnpike's history, the Turnpike Commission was not able to pay off even the interest on its bonded indebtedness, and the first bond was not retired until 1982. When the original bond expired on December 1, 1989,
19809-508: The Kanawha City neighborhood of Charleston was built to carry an additional two lanes of traffic between mileposts 94.96–95.87. This four-lane upgrade was extended southward to milepost 90 (exit 89, WV 94 , Marmet ) in 1984. A segment between Fayette and Kanawha counties was wideined from milepost 66.51 (exit 66, Mahan) to milepost 74.96 (exit 74, Standard ) in 1983, this involved construction of
20022-716: The Mid-Atlantic, the Upland South , and the Southeastern United States . It is the only state entirely within the area served by the Appalachian Regional Commission ; the area is commonly defined as " Appalachia ". The state is noted for its mountains and rolling hills, its historically significant coal mining and logging industries, and its political and labor history . It is also known for its tourism and
20235-533: The Morton and Bluestone Glass Houses were replaced with larger, more modern travel centers. Morton and Bluestone service plazas were available to northbound travelers only, while the Beckley service plaza was accessible only to southbound motorists. HMSHost operates the various restaurants at the plazas, while ExxonMobil (through its Exxon brand) operates the gas station at each plaza. In May 1996, exit 45
20448-551: The N&W was also shipping from new coal piers at Hampton Roads. In 1889, in the southern part of the state, along the Norfolk and Western rail lines, the important coal center of Bluefield, West Virginia , was founded. The "capital" of the Pocahontas coalfield , this city would remain the largest city in the southern portion of the state for several decades. It shares its name with a sister city, Bluefield , in Virginia. In
20661-956: The Ohio River from the Monongahela to Kentucky and extending an unknown distance inland, and the Eastern Siouan Tutelo and Moneton tribes in the southeast. There was also the Iroquoian Susquehannock in the region approximately east of the Monongahela River and north of the Monongahela National Forest, a possible tribe called the Senandoa, or Shenandoah, in the Shenandoah Valley and the easternmost tip of
20874-521: The Ohio River region. They were West Virginia's last Native tribe and were driven out by the United States during the Shawnee Wars (1811–1813). The Erie, who were chased out of Ohio around 1655, are now believed to be the same as the Westo , who invaded as far as South Carolina before being destroyed in the 1680s. If so, their path would have brought them through West Virginia. The historical movement of
21087-465: The Ohio state line soon after. In August 1969, construction began on the section between the turnpike's relocated northern termini and the Virginia state line. Like with the West Virginia Turnpike, challenges were faced during the latters construction, such as boring a vehicular tunnel, as well as avoiding caves, mud, springs and hard to break tuscarora sandstone. The Ohio extension was completed in 1972, and
21300-471: The Parkways Authority sought public input for modernization of the travel plazas, representing the first significant work on the travel plazas since some of them were rebuilt in the 1990s. At the result of this, in 2022, the Beckley and Bluestone Service Plazas were closed to undergo a 122 million dollar recinstruction to bring them up to the milepost 69 plazas standards. On December 15, 2023,
21513-609: The Pinnacle 3,007 feet (917 m) and Pidgeon Roost 3,400 ft (1,000 m). In West Virginia, more than 150 peaks rise above 4,000 ft (1,200 m), including Spruce Knob 4,863 ft (1,482 m), the highest point in the Allegheny Mountains . A number of other points in the state rise above 4,800 ft (1,500 m). Cheat Mountain ( Snowshoe Mountain ) at Thorny Flat 4,848 ft (1,478 m) and Bald Knob 4,842 ft (1,476 m) are among
21726-725: The Shattaras, or West Virginia Cherokees. They took in and merged with the Monetons, who began to call themselves the Mohetons. The Calicua also began to call themselves Cherokees soon after, showing an apparent further merger. These Shattaras were closely related to the tribes that formed to the south in the aftermath of the Westo—the Yuchi and Cherokee. From 1715 to 1717, the Yamasee War sprang up. The Senandoa allegedly sided with
21939-591: The Shawnee returned to war, joining the Chickamauga , a band of Cherokee known for the area where they lived. Native American attacks on settlers continued until after the American Revolutionary War . During the war, the settlers in western Virginia were generally active Whigs ; many served in the Continental Army . Claypool's Rebellion of 1780–1781, in which a group of men refused to pay taxes to
22152-613: The Susquehanna River of Eastern Pennsylvania. The Manahoac were probably forced out in the 1680s when the Iroquois began to invade Virginia. The Siouan tribes there moved into North Carolina and later returned as one tribe, known as the Eastern Blackfoot, or Christannas. The Westo did not secure the territory they conquered. Even before they were gone, displaced natives from the south flooded into freshly conquered regions and took them over. These became known as
22365-468: The Tidewater and Piedmont slaveholders' political dominance. In addition to differences over slavery, he and allies felt the Virginia government ignored and refused to spend funds on needed internal improvements in the west, such as turnpikes and railroads. West Virginia was the only state in the Union to separate from a Confederate state ( Virginia ) during the Civil War. In Richmond on April 17, 1861,
22578-401: The Turnpike Commission had difficulty determining how to refinance it. Total revenues from 1954 through 1986 totaled $ 309.3 million (equivalent to $ 729 million in 2023), with interest of $ 170.7 million (equivalent to $ 403 million in 2023). In 1986, total annual revenues were $ 30.4 million (equivalent to $ 71.7 million in 2023). The commission predicted that when I-64
22791-593: The Turnpike had also caused the traffic on I-64 between Sam Black Church and Charleston to use a scenic but treacherous section of US 60 known as the Midland Trail through Rainelle and Ansted before the road descended Gauley Mountain at Hawk's Nest to the Kanawha River Valley to reach Charleston. There were terrible accidents along this stretch and lengthy delays as trucks negotiated
23004-635: The Tutelo and carbon dating of the Fort Ancients seem to correspond with the given period of 1655–1670 as the time of their removal. The Susquehannocks were original participants in the Beaver Wars but were cut off from the Ohio River by the Iroquois around 1630 and found themselves in dire straits. Suffering from disease and constant warfare and unable to provide for themselves financially, they began to collapse and moved further and further east, to
23217-536: The USGS is "province", the same word as Canada uses to divide its political subdivisions, meaning that the terminology used by the two countries do not match below the region level. The lowest level of classification is "section". The Appalachian Uplands are one of the seven physiographic divisions in Canada . Canada's GSC does not use the same classification system as the USGS below the division level. The agency does break
23430-545: The Union during the Civil War, and the second state to separate from another state, after Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820. Some of its residents held slaves, but most were yeoman farmers, and the delegates provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in the new state constitution. The state legislature abolished slavery in the state, and at the same time ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery nationally on February 3, 1865. West Virginia's northern panhandle extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio to form
23643-526: The Union was made to Congress, introduced by Senator Waitman Willey of the Restored Government of Virginia. Carlile sought to sabotage the bill, first trying to expand the new state's boundaries to include the Shenandoah Valley, and then to defeat the Willey amendment at home. On December 31, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln approved an enabling act admitting West Virginia on the condition that
23856-433: The United States and Canada, and partly because the range was formed over numerous geologic time periods, one of which is sometimes termed the Appalachian orogeny , writing communities struggle to agree on an encyclopedic definition of the mountain range. However, each of the governments has an agency that informs the public about the major landforms that make up the countries, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and
24069-527: The VGN's well-engineered 20th-century tracks continue to offer a favorable gradient to Hampton Roads. Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains , often called the Appalachians , are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America . The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain. The general definition used
24282-658: The Virginia General Assembly on May 23. This included some hold-over state senators whose four-year terms had begun in 1859, and some who vacated their offices to convene in Wheeling. Other members "were chosen even more irregularly—some in mass meetings, others by county committee, and still others were seemingly self-appointed". An act for the reorganization of the government was passed on June 19. The next day, convention delegates chose Francis H. Pierpont as governor of Virginia and elected other officers to
24495-452: The Virginia extension was completed on December 20, 1974. Originally, engineers had thought that the West Virginia Turnpike could be left as originally built once I-77 was completed. However, a law passed in 1966 made it so that all interstates, predating their designation as such or not, would have to be four lanes wide. This effectively meant that the turnpike would leave a gap in I-77, as it
24708-555: The West Virginia Turnpike Authority awarded Saint Albans contractor Triton Construction and the project began immediately. Work on the project between exits 40 and 48 from four to six lanes also required reconstructing eight bridges to be wider, replacing lighting, and extending the deceleration lanes of exits 45 and 48. Work was completed in November 2021, at the cost of $ 106,000,000. In 2021,
24921-483: The West Virginia Turnpike CAF Report: The Commission issued $ 96 million [equivalent to $ 885 million in 2023] of 3 + 3 ⁄ 4 % revenue bonds in April 1952, and groundbreaking took place in August of that year. Due to the occurrence of large slides midway through construction that had to be corrected at additional expense, revenue bonds for an additional $ 37 million [equivalent to $ 341 million in 2023] were sold at 4 + 1 ⁄ 8 %. When ground
25134-437: The West Virginia Turnpike, up from the original six. A rest area is now provided at milepost 69 for southbound motorists, and a scenic overlook of the Bluestone River also serves southbound motorists. The turnpike displays many cuts through mountains as well as lanes that are separated from each other by substantial difference in elevation. With the work, all of I-77 in West VIrigina was at least our lanes wide . The final of
25347-399: The Yuchi and were destroyed by Yamasee allies. Therefore, if the Senandoa were the same tribe as the Moneton, this would mean the collapse of Shattara-Moneton culture. Another tribe that appeared in the region was the Canaragay, or Kanawha. It later migrated to Maryland and merged into colonial culture. In 1671, General Abraham Wood , at the direction of Royal Governor William Berkeley of
25560-432: The border between West Virginia and Virginia includes the "Saltpeter Trail", a string of limestone caverns containing rich deposits of calcium nitrate which were rendered and sold to the government. The trail stretched from Pendleton County to the western terminus of the route in the town of Union , Monroe County . Nearly half of these caves are on the West Virginia side, including Organ Cave and Haynes Cave . In
25773-414: The border of the coastal plain through the central and southern Atlantic states; and on the northwest, the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus declining toward the Great Lakes and the interior plains. A remarkable feature of the belt is the longitudinal chain of broad valleys, including the Great Appalachian Valley , which in the southerly sections divides the mountain system into two unequal portions, but in
25986-454: The community of Ghent . Here, the road has an interchange with CR 48, providing access to Winterplace Ski Resort . I-77's northbound and southbound lanes separate here, and the highway approaches its first toll plaza. The two roadways reunite at a point south of Daniels . I-77 meets I-64 south of Beckley , and the two highways become concurrent. The highways bypass the west side of Beckley, meeting WV 16 and WV 3 and passing
26199-463: The constitution, which nevertheless passed because of eastern support. The eastern planter elite's failure to make constitutional reforms exacerbated existing east–west sectionalism in Virginia and contributed to its division. The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850–51 , the Reform Convention, addressed a number of issues important to western Virginians. It extended the vote to all white males 21 years or older. The governor, lieutenant governor,
26412-461: The constitutional amendment of 1866 was abrogated. Republicans had taken the first steps toward this change in 1870. On August 22, 1872, an entirely new constitution was adopted. Beginning in Reconstruction , and for several decades thereafter, the two states disputed the new state's share of the prewar Virginia government's debts, which had mostly been incurred to finance public infrastructure improvements, such as canals, roads, and railroads under
26625-447: The construction, the I-64 interchange was put into service by 1988. On June 1, 1989, the West Virginia Legislature created the West Virginia Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority to replace the Turnpike Commission. The year also saw the removal of toll plazas from all the interchanges but exit 48, effectively transitioning the turnpike from a ticketed toll system to the less traditional fixed toll system. In 1991,
26838-457: The continent that are now exposed. The first mountain-building tectonic plate collision that initiated the construction of what are today the Appalachians occurred at least a billion years ago when the pre-North American craton called Laurentia collided with at least one other craton - Amazonia . All the other cratons of the earth also collided at about this time to form the supercontinent Rodinia and were surrounded by one single ocean. (It
27051-416: The continents that were ancestral to North America and Africa collided during the formation of the supercontinent Pangea . Because North America and Africa were once geographically connected, the Appalachians formed part of the same mountain chain as the Little Atlas in Morocco . This mountain range, known as the Central Pangean Mountains , extended into Scotland , before the Mesozoic Era opening of
27264-412: The deciduous needle-leaf conifer, the tamarack , or eastern larch ( Larix laricina ). The dominant northern and high elevation conifer is the red spruce ( Picea rubens ), which grows from near sea level to above 4,000 ft (1,200 m) above sea level (asl) in northern New England and southeastern Canada. It also grows southward along the Appalachian crest to the highest elevations of
27477-399: The divisions of the Appalachian Uplands into 13 subsections that are in four different political provinces of Canada. While the Appalachian Highlands and Appalachian Uplands are generally continuous across the U.S./Canadian border, the St. Lawrence Valley area is handled differently in the physiographic classification schemas. The part of the St. Lawrence Valley in the United States is one of
27690-529: The driest sites are dominated by chestnut oak, or sometimes by scarlet or northern red oaks. In the northern Appalachians the oaks, except for white and northern red, drop out, while the latter extends farthest north. The oak forests generally lack the diverse small tree, shrub and herb layers of mesic forests. Shrubs are generally ericaceous , and include the evergreen mountain laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ), various species of blueberries ( Vaccinium spp.), black huckleberry ( Gaylussacia baccata ),
27903-440: The early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania. In U.S. dialects in the southern regions of the Appalachians, the word is pronounced / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l æ tʃ ɪ n z / , with the third syllable sounding like "latch". In northern parts of the mountain range, it is pronounced / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l eɪ tʃ ɪ n z / or / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l eɪ ʃ ɪ n z / ;
28116-398: The entire length of the West Virginia Turnpike , a toll road that runs between Princeton and Charleston, and it runs concurrently with I-64 between Beckley and Charleston. Historically, the West Virginia Turnpike was a two-lane road with treacherous curves and a tunnel (which has since been decommissioned). Construction began in 1952, several years before the Interstate Highway System
28329-451: The existing roads dangerous with safety statistics to prove it. In 1949, Governor Okey Patteson oversaw the creation of the Turnpike Commission which was the start of the planning of what was to become the West Virginia Turnpike. Two years earlier, the state legislature had appropriated funds to study the feasibility of building a superhighway comparable to similar projects being planned and constructed in other states. Early proposals showed
28542-406: The federal level. Many ancient manmade earthen mounds from various prehistoric mound builder cultures survive in West Virginia, especially in the areas of present-day Moundsville , South Charleston , and Romney . Artifacts uncovered in these give evidence of village societies with a tribal trade system culture that crafted cold-worked copper pieces. In the 1670s, during the Beaver Wars ,
28755-425: The folds and faults created many millions of years earlier. Other streams downcut so rapidly that they cut right across the resistant folded rocks of the mountain core, carving canyons across rock layers and geologic structures. The Appalachian Mountains contain major deposits of anthracite coal as well as bituminous coal . In the folded mountains the coal is in metamorphosed form as anthracite , represented by
28968-549: The freeway enters Jackson County near Goldtown . I-77 serves the communities of Kenna via an interchange with WV 34 and Fairplain via CR 21. The highway continues northward through Ripley , where it intersects US 33 and WV 62 . It runs concurrently with US 33 and does so through Silverton , where US 33 leaves the Interstate and WV 2 joins it. I-77/WV 2 turns northeasterly toward Rockport , where it enters Wood County and turns northward toward Parkersburg . The highway runs through
29181-468: The highway approaches the turnpike's Bluestone Service Plaza, accessible from the northbound lanes only. I-77 then crosses the Bluestone River in Eads Mill, and the southbound roadway has a rest area and weigh station . Now heading northwesterly, the highway approaches an interchange with US 19 and passes Camp Creek State Park in Camp Creek , where the road turns north again. Running closely parallel with US 19, I-77 enters Raleigh County near
29394-498: The highway be constructed as a two-lane facility rather than a four-lane highway, with provisions for future widening when funding became available. In November 1951, the final alignment was chosen. The route was 22 miles (35 km) shorter than the original road mileage between Charleston and Princeton but would save motorists over two hours of driving between those two points. Original cost projections came in at $ 78 million (equivalent to $ 734 million in 2023). According to
29607-421: The judiciary, sheriffs, and other county officers were to be elected by public vote. The General Assembly's composition was changed. Representation in the House of Delegates was apportioned based on the census of 1850, counting whites only. The Senate representation was arbitrarily fixed at 50 seats, with the west receiving 20 senators and the east 30. This was made acceptable to the west by a provision that required
29820-408: The lack of internal improvements in the west, the vote was 75,748 for and 11,063 against the new constitution. Most of the opposition came from delegates from eastern counties, who did not like the compromises made for the west. Given these differences, many in the west had long contemplated a separate state. In particular, men such as lawyer Francis H. Pierpont from Fairmont had long chafed under
30033-431: The land mass that is now New England and southwestward to Pennsylvania. The Taconic Orogeny was the second of four mountain building plate collisions that contributed to the formation of the Appalachians, culminating in the collision of North America and Africa (see Alleghanian orogeny ). The third mountain-building event was the Acadian orogeny which occurred between 375 and 359 million years ago. The Acadian orogeny
30246-654: The last motorist to drive through the tunnel. It was not meant to be that way. Originally, Tommy Graley of Standard and his two daughters were picked to be in the last vehicle to pass through the tunnel, but his pickup truck was followed by a car carrying Turnpike officials and the state trooper. The new Memorial Tunnel bypass cost $ 35 million (equivalent to $ 80.5 million in 2023) and required years of work. Ten million cubic yards (7.6 × 10 ^ m) of earth were removed and used as fill with drainage tiles for Paint Creek. Some 300,000 short tons (270,000 t; 270,000 long tons) of coal were extracted. The Bender Bridge
30459-421: The late 18th century, saltpeter miners in Haynes Cave found large animal bones in the deposits. These were sent by a local historian and frontier soldier Colonel John Stuart to Thomas Jefferson . The bones were named Megalonyx jeffersonii , or great-claw, and became known as Jefferson's three-toed sloth. It was declared the official state fossil of West Virginia in 2008. The West Virginia official state rock
30672-469: The latter. However, balsam fir also does well in soils with a pH as high as 6. Eastern or Canada hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis ) is another important evergreen needle-leaf conifer that grows along the Appalachian chain from north to south but is confined to lower elevations than red spruce and the firs. It generally occupies richer and less acidic soils than the spruce and firs and is characteristic of deep, shaded and moist mountain valleys and coves . It
30885-411: The law, said if it was not enacted he would lose the election by 500 votes. Confederates' property might also be confiscated, and in 1866 a constitutional amendment disfranchising all who had given aid and comfort to the Confederacy was adopted. The addition of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution caused a reaction. The Democratic party secured control in 1870, and in 1871
31098-518: The lifestyles of its residents, who tended to live in many small, relatively isolated communities in the mountain valleys. A 2010 analysis of a local stalagmite revealed that Native Americans were burning forests to clear land as early as 100 BCE. Some regional late-prehistoric Eastern Woodland tribes were more involved in hunting and fishing, practicing the Eastern Agricultural Complex gardening method which used fire to clear out underbrush from certain wooded areas. Another group progressed to
31311-476: The major grades. Because of these issues, studies to upgrade the highway were undertaken after the 1966 legislation. In 1968, it was determined that upgrading the turnpike would be more feasible than bypassing it. This was followed by legislation in 1970 that would allow the newly rebuilt roadway to stay as the West Virginia Turnpike. In 1974, the cost to expand the turnpike to four lanes was eastmated at $ 350 million (equivalent to $ 1.68 billion in 2023). When
31524-456: The microclimates that best suited them. The flora of the Appalachians are diverse and vary primarily in response to geology, latitude, elevation and moisture availability. Geobotanically, they constitute a floristic province of the North American Atlantic Region . The Appalachians consist primarily of deciduous broad-leaf trees and evergreen needle-leaf conifers, but also contain the evergreen broad-leaf American holly ( Ilex opaca ), and
31737-463: The mid 20th entry, in the years before creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1956, superhighways in the form of additional toll roads , such as the New Jersey Turnpike in 1951 and the Ohio Turnpike and 1955, began stimulating economic development and enhancing transportation in the eastern US. The challenge of terrain in West Virginia mirrored that of Pennsylvania in some ways but with several important distinctions. The most important of these
31950-433: The more notable peaks in West Virginia. The Blue Ridge Mountains , rising in southern Pennsylvania and there known as South Mountain , attain elevations of about 2,000 ft (600 m) in Pennsylvania. South Mountain achieves its highest point just below the Mason-Dixon line in Maryland at Quirauk Mountain 2,145 ft (654 m) and then diminishes in height southward to the Potomac River . Once in Virginia ,
32163-551: The more time-consuming, advanced companion crop fields method of gardening. Also continuing from the ancient Indigenous people of the state, they cultivated tobacco through to early historic times. It was used in numerous social and religious rituals. " Maize (corn) did not make a substantial contribution to the diet until after 1150 BP ", to quote Mills (OSU 2003). Eventually, tribal villages began depending on corn to feed their turkey flocks, as Kanawha Fort Ancients practiced bird husbandry . The local Natives made cornbread and
32376-406: The mountainous belt just north of the New River in Virginia. South of the New River, rivers head into the Blue Ridge, cross the higher Unakas, receive important tributaries from the Great Valley, and traversing the Cumberland Plateau in spreading gorges ( water gaps ), escape by way of the Cumberland River and the Tennessee River rivers to the Ohio River and the Mississippi River, and thence to
32589-429: The mountainous belt, and thus the main lines of drainage run from north to south, exemplified by the Hudson River . However, the valley through which the Hudson River flows was cut by the gigantic glaciers of the ice ages —the same glaciers that deposited their terminal moraines in southern New York and formed the east–west Long Island . The Appalachian region is generally considered the geographical divide between
32802-402: The mountains. A body of militia under then-Colonel Andrew Lewis dealt the Shawnee Natives , under Hokoleskwa (or "Cornstalk"), a crushing blow during the Battle of Point Pleasant at the junction of the Kanawha and the Ohio rivers. At the Treaty of Camp Charlotte concluding Dunmore's War , Cornstalk agreed to recognize the Ohio River as the new boundary with the " Long Knives ". But by 1776
33015-400: The movement of slaves into the new state, and to gradually abolish slavery. The education proposal succeeded, but the convention tabled the slavery proposals before finishing its work on February 18, 1862. The new constitution was more closely modeled on Ohio's than Virginia's, adopting a township model of government rather than the " courthouse cliques " of Virginia which Carlile criticized, and
33228-432: The name of the tribe to the mountains themselves. The first cartographic appearance of Apalchen is on Diego Gutiérrez 's map of 1562; the first use for the mountain range is the map of Jacques le Moyne de Morgues in 1565. The name was not commonly used for the whole mountain range until the late 19th century. A competing and often more popular name was the "Allegheny Mountains", "Alleghenies", and even "Alleghania". In
33441-445: The new Beckley and Bluestone service plazas were opened. In 2023, the eastbound lanes of the West Virginia Turnpike between milepost 121.5 and milepost 48 was rebuilt, with the old roadway and steel mesh removed and new steel mesh added and old concrete re-poured for use on the new roadway. On March 22, 2024, the same began on the westbound lanes. WVDOT plans to rebuild the 7.3-mile free section of roadway between Tuppers Creek Road and
33654-468: The new exit 63 and exit 74. Traffic just to the west of the latter interchange used the two-lane Bender Bridge and Memorial Tunnel . In 1984, the turnpike was widened from milepost 90 (exit 89, WV 94, Marmet) to milepost 82.55; this included construction of a new Toll Plaza C near Sharon . In 1985, work continued on a segment south of Mossy from milepost 59.63 (exit 60, Mossy) to milepost 62.27 near Kingston. Also,
33867-447: The northern portion of the state and elsewhere, the older Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) and other lines also expanded to take advantage of coal opportunities. The B&O developed coal piers in Baltimore and at several points on the Great Lakes . Other significant rail carriers of coal were the Western Maryland Railway (WM), Southern Railway (SOU), and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N). Particularly notable
34080-408: The northernmost lies west of all the ranges possessing typical Appalachian features, and separates them from the Adirondack group. The mountain system has no axis of dominating altitudes, but in every portion, the summits rise to rather uniform heights, and, especially in the central section, the various ridges and intermontane valleys have the same trend as the system itself. None of the summits reaches
34293-424: The oceans, but there were no plants or animals on land. Then, during the middle Ordovician Period about 500 to 470 million years ago, the motion of the crustal plates changed, and the continents began to move back toward each other. The once-quiet Appalachian passive margin changed to a very active plate boundary when a neighboring Iapetus oceanic plate containing a volcanic arc collided with and began sinking beneath
34506-461: The original accounts of the excursion as suggesting that none of the expedition's horsemen ventured much farther west of the Blue Ridge Mountains than Harrisonburg, Virginia . John Van Metre, a Native trader, penetrated into the northern portion in 1725. The same year, German settlers from Pennsylvania founded New Mecklenburg, the present Shepherdstown , on the Potomac River , and others followed. King Charles II of England , in 1661, granted to
34719-425: The owners had large landholdings. Their railroad was renamed Norfolk and Western (N&W), and a new railroad city was developed at Roanoke to handle planned expansion. After its new president Frederick J. Kimball and a small party journeyed by horseback and saw firsthand the rich bituminous coal seam, which Kimball's wife named Pocahontas , the N&W redirected its planned westward expansion to reach it. Soon,
34932-479: The powerful Iroquois , five allied nations based in present-day New York and Pennsylvania, drove out other Native American tribes from the region to reserve the upper Ohio Valley as a hunting ground. Siouan language tribes, such as the Moneton , had previously been among the earliest recorded in the area. Conflicts with European settlers resulted in various displaced Native tribes settling in West Virginia, where they were known as Mingo , meaning "remote affiliates of
35145-563: The project had not started in 1975, articles in local newspapers attacked the state workers for their "laziness" in pursuing the upgrade of the highway. Turnpike officials worried, as the costs for upgrading the toll road were increasing dramatically. By 1975, the death toll for the only 21-year-old highway was at 278, and, in 1979, 28 fatalities occurred on the turnpike. In 1976, contracts totaling well over $ 200 million (equivalent to $ 834 million in 2023) were awarded, construction began that December. The first section to be modernized
35358-405: The region of perpetual snow. In Pennsylvania , there are over sixty summits that rise over 2,500 ft (800 m); the summits of Mount Davis and Blue Knob rise over 3,000 ft (900 m). In Maryland, Eagle Rock and Dans Mountain are conspicuous points reaching 3,162 and 2,882 ft (964 and 878 m) respectively. On the same side of the Great Valley, south of the Potomac, are
35571-506: The region was created when the continents of Laurentia and Amazonia collided, creating a supercontinent called Rodinia . The collision of these continents caused the rocks to be folded and faulted, creating the first mountains in the region. Many of the rocks and minerals that were formed during that event can currently be seen at the surface of the present Appalachian range. Around 480 million years ago, geologic processes began that led to three distinct orogenic eras that created much of
35784-449: The remainder to West Virginia. The issue was finally settled in 1915 , when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $ 12,393,929.50. The final installment of this sum was paid in 1939. After Reconstruction , the new 35th state benefited from the development of its mineral resources more than any other single economic activity. Saltpeter caves had been employed throughout Appalachia for munitions;
35997-412: The remaining 52 miles (84 km) between Charleston and Beckley opened. The new turnpike had several nicknames, including "88 miles [142 km] of miracle" and "the engineering marvel that beat the mountains". Triangular turnpike shields, with the words "West Virginia" at the top and an interlocking "T" and "P" in the center, were installed along the highway. Six interchanges were constructed. Initially,
36210-441: The remaining Virginia counties within the federal lines. The question of the constitutionality of the formation of the new state was later brought before the Supreme Court of the United States in Virginia v. West Virginia . Berkeley and Jefferson counties, lying on the Potomac east of the mountains, voted in favor of annexation to West Virginia in 1863, with the consent of Virginia's reorganized government. Many voters of
36423-403: The required referendum (as happened on May 23), such action would constitute revolution against the United States. The convention decided that if Virginians adopted the secession ordinance (of which there was little doubt), another convention including the members-elect of the legislature would meet in Wheeling in June 1861. On May 23, 1861, secession was ratified by a large majority in Virginia as
36636-507: The rest area at milepost 69, serving southbound travelers. From 2008 to 2012, E-ZPass was introduced across the turnpike, replacing the existing all electronic system in the process. The milepost 69 rest area and snack bar was reconstructed into a larger facility in 2017. As early as 2006, the Turnpike had considered widening the section near Beckly from four to six lanes. However, they cacelled this plan, as they had thought it would be too expensive. Despite this, in November 2018,
36849-428: The result of volcanic activity that occurred around this time. Evidence of subsurface activity, dikes and sills intruding into the overlying rock, is present in the Blue Ridge as well. For instance, mafic rocks have been found along the Fries Fault in the central Blue Ridge area of Montgomery County, VA. The Iapetus continued to expand and during that time bacteria, algae, and many species of invertebrates flourished in
37062-410: The ridges are not high, the terrain is extremely rugged. In Ohio and New York, some of the plateau has been glaciated , which has rounded off the sharp ridges and filled the valleys to some extent. The glaciated regions are usually referred to as hill country rather than mountains. The Appalachian belt includes the plateaus sloping southward to the Atlantic Ocean in New England , and southeastward to
37275-416: The river between exits 95 (WV 61) and 96 (US 60) in Port Amherst . The West Virginia Turnpike ends after exit 96. I-77/I-64 continues west along the north side of the Kanawha River closely parallel with US 60 after the turnpike ends. In eastern Charleston, the highway passes to the north of the historic Craik-Patton House . Continuing northwest, the road comes to interchanges serving
37488-411: The road used a ticket-based tolling system. At each interchange, bridges and underpasses for the mainline had an extra set of graded lanes, indicating that the turnpike was expected to be widened in the future. According to the West Virginia Turnpike CAF Report: The $ 1.5 million per mile [$ 0.93 million/km; equivalent to $ 13.5 million per mile ($ 8.7 million/km) in 2023)] was only one of
37701-451: The second-level classifications, part of the Appalachian Highlands. In Canada, the area is part of the first-level classification, the St. Lawrence Lowlands . This includes the area around the city of Montreal, Anticosti Island , and the northwest coastline of Newfoundland. The dissected plateau area, while not actually made up of geological mountains, is popularly called "mountains", especially in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, and while
37914-420: The southeast corner of Parkersburg, bypassing the center of the city. After an interchange with WV 14 near Mineral Wells , I-77/WV 2 crosses the Little Kanawha River south of Parkersburg, intersects WV 47 and US 50 , and heads northeastward from the city. WV 2 leaves I-77 soon after, at exit 179 for WV 68 in North Hills . I-77 heads northward toward Williamstown , which
38127-416: The southern Appalachians, as in North Carolina and Tennessee . In the central Appalachians it is usually confined above 3,000 ft (900 m) asl, except for a few cold valleys in which it reaches lower elevations. In the southern Appalachians, it is restricted to higher elevations. Another species is the black spruce ( Picea mariana ), which extends farthest north of any conifer in North America,
38340-413: The southern and central Appalachians consist largely of black , northern red , white , chestnut and scarlet oaks ( Quercus velutina, Q. rubra, Q. alba, Q. prinus and Q. coccinea ) and hickories, such as the pignut ( Carya glabra ) in particular. The richest forests, which grade into mesic types, usually in coves and on gentle slopes, have predominantly white and northern red oaks, while
38553-511: The southern and central Appalachians at low and intermediate elevations. In the northern Appalachians and at higher elevations of the central and southern Appalachians these diverse mesic forests give way to less diverse northern hardwood forests with canopies dominated only by American beech, sugar maple, American basswood ( Tilia americana ) and yellow birch and with far fewer species of shrubs and herbs. Drier and rockier uplands and ridges are occupied by oak–chestnut forests dominated by
38766-472: The southernmost spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sources written prior to the recognition of the concept of physiographic regions divided the Appalachian Mountains into three major sections: Plate tectonics over the period dating back at least 1 billion years led to geological creation of the land that is now the Appalachian Mountain range. The continental movement led to collisions that built mountains and they later pulled apart creating oceans over parts of
38979-404: The staggering statistics used by journalists as far away as Michigan and New York to describe their "amazement at an engineering achievement of such heroic proportions". Three service areas, each served by an at-grade intersection, were constructed at Morton, Bluestone, and Beckley. The service areas were originally referred to as "Glass Houses". For the first few years, the West Virginia Turnpike
39192-463: The state legislature. More subsistence and yeoman farmers lived in the west, and they were generally less supportive of slavery, although many counties were divided on their support. Residents of that area became more sharply divided after the planter elite of eastern Virginia voted to secede from the Union during the Civil War. Residents of the western and northern counties set up a separate government under Francis Pierpont in 1861, which they called
39405-416: The state may have been home to the Manahoac people. The Monongahela may have been the same as a people known as the Calicua, or Cali. The following may have also all been the same tribe—Moneton, Moheton, Senandoa, Tomahitan. During the Beaver Wars, other tribes moved into the region. The Iroquoian Tiontatecaga (also Little Mingo, Guyandotte) seem to have split off from the Petun after they were defeated by
39618-427: The state of West Virginia and link the southern states to the northern states. One of these included I-77, which was to run across the pre existing roadway in order to reduce construction. The Turnpike was officially designated as part of I-77 in 1958. In 1967, a new free stretch of roadway near the Ohio river was opened, construction began on the segment between the West Virginia Turnpike’s (relocated) southern termini to
39831-411: The state's present limits, but the region was a common hunting ground, crossed by many trails. During the French and Indian War (the North American front of the Seven Years' War in Europe),Native allies of the French nearly destroyed the scattered British settlements. Shortly before the American Revolutionary War , in 1774 Crown Governor of Virginia John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore , led a force over
40044-449: The strongly pro-secessionist counties were absent in the Confederate Army when the vote was taken and refused to acknowledge the transfer when they returned. The Virginia General Assembly repealed the act of secession and in 1866 brought suit against West Virginia asking the court to declare the counties part of Virginia, which would have made West Virginia's admission as a state unconstitutional. Meanwhile, on March 10, 1866, Congress passed
40257-468: The surface structure seen in today's Appalachians. During this period, mountains once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rockies before natural erosion occurred over the last 240 million years leading to what is present today. The Appalachian Mountains are a barrier to east–west travel, as they form a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most highways and railroads running east–west. This barrier
40470-440: The third syllable is like "lay", and the fourth "chins" or "shins". There is often great debate between the residents of the regions regarding the correct pronunciation. Elsewhere, a commonly accepted pronunciation for the adjective Appalachian is / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l æ tʃ i ə n / , with the last two syllables "-ian" pronounced as in the word "Romanian". Perhaps partly because the range runs through large portions of both
40683-412: The turnpike's Beckley Service Area, which includes Tamarack Marketplace at exit 45. Near the community of Prosperity , the highway has an exit for US 19 with a toll on the northbound exit and southbound entrance. I-77 heads north from Beckley into the Appalachian Mountains . It enters Fayette County near Pax , where it has an exit serving CR 23 / 2 . After this exit
40896-434: The two main crests. Major subranges of the Eastern Front include the Black Mountains , Great Craggy Mountains , and Great Balsam Mountains , and its chief summits include Grandfather Mountain 5,964 ft (1,818 m) near the Tennessee-North Carolina border, Mount Mitchell 6,684 ft (2,037 m) in the Blacks, and Black Balsam Knob 6,214 ft (1,894 m) and Cold Mountain 6,030 ft (1,840 m) in
41109-452: The war ended. The eastern panhandle counties were more affected by the war, with military control of the area repeatedly changing hands. The area that became West Virginia actually furnished about an equal number of soldiers to the Union and Confederate armies, about 22,000–25,000 each. In 1865, the Wheeling government found it necessary to strip voting rights from returning Confederates in order to retain control. James Ferguson, who proposed
41322-429: The way east across Virginia, using Rogers' private fortune to finance the $ 40 million cost. When the renamed Virginian Railway (VGN) was completed in 1909, no fewer than three railroads were shipping ever-increasing volumes of coal to export from Hampton Roads. West Virginia coal was also in high demand at Great Lakes ports. The VGN and the N&W ultimately became parts of the modern Norfolk Southern system, and
41535-475: The west and to the north again, I-77 has an exit serving Sharon . The highway continues north until it reaches the northernmost toll plaza on the turnpike and the Kanawha River near Cabin Creek , where it turns northwest to follow the river toward Charleston. Soon afterward is an exit for the Admiral T. J. Lopez Bridge , providing access to US 60 on the north side of the river. Parallel with WV 61 , after passing Chesapeake and Marmet , I-77 crosses
41748-474: The western part of the state of Virginia (commonly called Trans-Allegheny Virginia ) from 1776 to 1863, before West Virginia's formation. Its residents were discontented for years with their position in Virginia, as the government was dominated by the planter elite of the Tidewater and Piedmont areas. The legislature had electoral malapportionment, based on the counting of slaves toward regional populations, and western white residents were underrepresented in
41961-568: Was a Super two freeway for all but 31 miles, where there was a four lane configuration for only six miles and a three lane configuration for 25 miles. This gap in adequate standards resulted in a major bottleneck; congestion at the toll plazas was particularly serious. On top of this, the roadway had also lacked any measures to protect oncoming traffic from crossing directions, which resulted in many head on collisions , and an increased amount of fatalities, as well as severely deteriorated pavement that had buckled from stress. The lack of connection with
42174-551: Was a desolate roadway. Although the northern terminus was in a large city, it connected to no other major highways or free-flowing roads. The highway lost some of its "marvel" when The Saturday Evening Post referred to the road as "the turnpike that goes to nowhere". Popular T-shirts proclaimed, "I survived the West Virginia Turnpike." Soon after the turnpike was completed, the Interstate Highway System began. The new turnpike, despite its lack of compliance with Interstate Highway standards , would cut travel time considerably through
42387-407: Was a latecomer, the Virginian Railway (VGN). By 1900, only the most rugged terrain of southern West Virginia was any distance from the existing railroads and mining activity. Within this area west of the New River Coalfield in Raleigh and Wyoming counties lay the Winding Gulf Coalfield , later promoted as the "Billion Dollar Coalfield". A protégé of Dr. Ansted was William Nelson Page (1854–1932),
42600-413: Was also election day for local offices, and elections were also held in camps of Confederate soldiers, who elected rival state officials, such as Robert E. Cowan . Most pro-statehood votes came from 16 counties around the northern panhandle. Over 50,000 votes had been cast on the Ordinance of Secession, yet the vote on statehood garnered little more than 19,000. In Ohio County, home to Wheeling, only about
42813-429: Was broken on the first segment of the turnpike, the northern terminus had once again been moved south. This time, it was placed at Charleston, citing cost as the primary reason. The cost was projected to be $ 133 million (equivalent to $ 1.23 billion in 2023) and to be funded through bonds that would be repaid through a system of tolls. This cost included $ 5 million (equivalent to $ 46.1 million in 2023) for
43026-467: Was caused by a series of collisions of pieces of crust from the Avalonia Terrane, sections broken off from continent of Gondwana , with the North American Plate. The collision initiating this orogeny resulted in the closing of the southern Iapetus Ocean and the formation of a high mountain belt. After the Acadian collision took place, Gondwana began to retreat from Laurentia with the newly accreted Avalonian terranes left behind. As Gondwana moved away,
43239-422: Was completed from Beckley to Sam Black Church in 1988, 6,500 more vehicles would travel the turnpike daily. In the previous 10 years, the commission noted, traffic increased 100 percent and annual gross revenues increased from $ 11.4 million to $ 30.4 million (equivalent to $ 41.8 million to $ 70 million in 2023). The refinancing plan was ultimately completed about six months later, with
43452-453: Was completed. In 1986, the segment from milepost 35.52 to milepost 40.73 (exit 40, I-64) was dualized. In 1987, work was finished on the dualization from milepost 43.83 (exit 44, WV 3) to milepost 46.6. By this time, the upgrade of 87 miles (140 km) of the 88 miles (142 km) of the turnpike were essentially completed. The only remaining segment, the Memorial Tunnel , once hailed as "state-of-the-art" and
43665-469: Was demolished. The Memorial Tunnel was used for storage until the mid-1990s, when it became a testing center for tunnel-fire suppression for Boston's Big Dig project. The tunnel is still being used today by the National Response Center for military and other testing uses. The bypass was not the first of its kind on a toll road, as the Pennsylvania Turnpike bypassed the Laurel Hill Tunnel in 1964 in similar fashion, and later bypassed two more tunnels with
43878-419: Was extremely important in shaping the expansion of the United States in the colonial era. The range is the home of a very popular recreational feature, the Appalachian Trail . This is a 2,175-mile (3,500 km) hiking trail that runs all the way from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia , passing over or past a large part of the Appalachian range. The International Appalachian Trail
44091-406: Was funded. It was only in 1987 that the entire length of the turnpike was upgraded to Interstate standards . Due to the difficulty and lives lost in construction, it has been called "88 miles of miracle". I-77 enters West Virginia from Virginia via the East River Mountain Tunnel , running concurrently with US Route 52 (US 52). It surfaces in Mercer County to the east of Bluefield as
44304-424: Was opened to serve the Beckley travel plaza, Dry Hill Road, and the newly constructed Tamarack Marketplace arts and crafts outlet. Because this interchange was a full one, it made the Beckley plaza accessible to northbound travelers for the first time. From late 1999 to early 2000, all electronic tolling was introduced across the Turnpike. In 2004, a concession stand and new restroom facilities were constructed at
44517-415: Was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváez 's expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15, 1528, and applied the name. Now spelled "Appalachian", it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US. After the 1540 expedition of Hernando de Soto , Spanish cartographers began to apply
44730-507: Was that the first portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike had largely followed and utilized a costly earlier rail project which had never been completed. On the West Virginia Turnpike, there would be no such advantage. Originally serviced by railroads and then two-lane highways, by the mid-20th century, the cities of southern and central West Virginia grew to the point where the roadways between these regions were becoming woefully inadequate. Heavier traffic loads and increasing traffic volumes made
44943-407: Was the east–west Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike , completed from Staunton to the Ohio River at Parkersburg immediately prior to the American Civil War (1861–1865). However, many of the internal transportation improvements were destroyed during that conflict, leaving bonded debt still to be paid, even as additional progress had ended. After resolution by the US Supreme Court , which assigned
45156-471: Was the section from milepost 10.6 (just north of exit 9, US 460 ) in Mercer County to milepost 35.52 (south of exit 40, I-64 ) in Raleigh County , completed in 1979. As part of this project, exits 14, 20 and 28 were also constructed. In 1980, a segment from milepost 46.7 to milepost 47.95, as well as the newly built exit 48, with US 19 ,were completed just north of Beckley . In 1981, Fayette County completed
45369-515: Was therefore both constitutional and expedient. The convention was reconvened on February 12, 1863, and the abolition demand of the federal enabling act was met. The revised constitution was adopted on March 26, 1863, and on April 20, 1863, Lincoln issued a proclamation admitting the state 60 days later on June 20, 1863. Meanwhile, officers for the new state were chosen, while Pierpont moved his pro-Union Virginia capital to Union-occupied Alexandria , where he asserted and exercised jurisdiction over all
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