Official West Virginia Website
West Virginia’s Online Encyclopedia

“We are tough, independent, inventive and honest, our character shaped by the wilderness of our state – its rushing streams, its boundless blue skies, its divine forests, and its majestic mountains.”

–Senator Joe Manchin

West Virginia Facts and Symbols

State Seal:

State Flag:

Abbreviation: WV

Nickname: The Mountain State

Admitted to the Union: West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863 as the 35th state. West Virginia was the only state to secede from a Confederate state (Virginia) during the American Civil War.

Capital: Charleston

Motto: Montani Semper Liberi (Mountaineers Are Always Free)

Highest Point: Spruce Knob in Pendleton County (4,863 feet)

Lowest Point: Potomac River in Jefferson County (240 feet)

State Colors: Old Gold and Blue

State Animal: Black Bear

State Bird: Northern Cardinal

State Flower: Great Rhododendron

State Tree: Sugar Maple

State Fish: The Brook Trout

State Insect: The Honey Bee

State Butterfly: Monarch

State Fruit: Golden Delicious Apple

State Soil: Monongahela Silt Loam

State Gem: Lithostrotionella

State Songs:

West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home by Julian G. Hearne, Jr. Adopted 1947

The West Virginia Hills, words and music by Ellen King and H. E. Engle. Adopted 1961

This is My West Virginia, by Iris Bell. Adopted February 28, 1963

WV Tourism:

• 2015 Official State Travel Guide
• Department of Tourism
• State Parks and Forests

Federal Officials

• U.S. Senate:

1. Joseph Manchin, III
2. Shelley Moore Capito 

• U.S. House of Representatives:

State Government

• Governor Earl Ray Tomblin

• Department of Commerce
• Department of Education and the Arts
• Department of Environmental Protection
• Department of Health and Human Resources
• Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety
• Department of Revenue
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Veterans Assistance

• West Virginia Legislature
• West Virginia Judiciary
• West Virginia State Constitution