West Virginia: Born in Wartime, Shaped by Mountains, and Fueled by Pepperoni Rolls
State #35 | June 20, 1863
West Virginia is easy to picture before you know much about it.
Tree-covered mountains. Winding country roads. Coal towns tucked into narrow valleys. Whitewater rushing between steep cliffs. And perhaps a certain country song playing somewhere in the background.
I have never visited West Virginia, but I do have a personal connection to the state.
A very good friend of mine was from there, and she was the first person to tell me about whoopie pies. I had never even heard of them. She made some for me—two little chocolate cakes with sweet filling sandwiched between them—and they were good.
Whoopie pies are not uniquely West Virginian, but in my memory, they will always be connected to her and to the state she called home.
She also rarely called it simply West Virginia.
She called it “West by God Virginia.”
At the time, I understood the words more than the pride behind them. But after learning how West Virginia became a state, that expression makes perfect sense.
Because West Virginia has one of the most unusual statehood stories in the country.
A State Born While the Country Was Breaking Apart
When Virginia voted to leave the United States in 1861 and join the Confederacy, many people in its mountainous western counties disagreed.
The region had long felt disconnected from Virginia’s government in Richmond. The mountains made travel and communication difficult, while differences over taxation, transportation, political representation, and slavery created further tension.
Loyalties were not unanimous, but most of the delegates from the counties that would become West Virginia opposed secession.
Union supporters gathered at a series of meetings known as the Wheeling Conventions. They eventually formed the Restored Government of Virginia, claiming that Virginia’s Confederate government in Richmond was no longer the state’s legitimate government.
That created a fascinating constitutional workaround.
The United States Constitution requires permission from a state before a new state can be created within its borders. Since the Confederate government in Richmond certainly was not going to approve losing a large section of Virginia, the Union-recognized Restored Government gave the necessary permission instead.
In other words, the loyal Virginia government meeting in Wheeling approved the creation of a new state from Virginia.
Not everyone agreed that this was constitutional, and historians still debate parts of the process today.
The proposed state was initially going to be called Kanawha, but delegates eventually chose the name West Virginia.
Congress approved its admission on the condition that the new state revise its constitution to include the gradual emancipation of enslaved people. President Abraham Lincoln signed the statehood bill on December 31, 1862.
West Virginia officially entered the Union as the 35th state on June 20, 1863—right in the middle of the Civil War.
You can explore the original statehood documents through the National Archives.
West, By God, Virginia
The exact origin of the expression “West by God Virginia” is uncertain, although one of its earliest known appearances in print dates to the 1920s.
Today, it is generally understood as an emphatic expression of state pride—and sometimes a reminder that West Virginia is its own state, not simply the western part of Virginia.
It does not sound like an ordinary place name.
It sounds like a declaration: This is West Virginia, by God, and we are proud of it.
Considering that the state was created during the Civil War after separating from Virginia, that pride feels especially fitting.
Now, whenever I hear the expression, I think of my friend, her homemade whoopie pies, and the way she said the name of her home state with an exclamation point.
The expression’s history is explored by West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Harpers Ferry Helped Set the Stage
Four years before West Virginia became a state, the small town of Harpers Ferry became the site of an event that pushed the country closer to war.
At the time, Harpers Ferry was still part of Virginia. It sat where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet and was home to a federal armory and arsenal filled with weapons.
On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown and 21 followers seized the armory. Brown hoped to distribute the weapons to enslaved people and begin a larger uprising against slavery.
The raid lasted only about 36 hours. Brown was captured, convicted, and executed, but the event intensified the growing national conflict over slavery.
Harpers Ferry’s location also made it strategically important during the Civil War. Union and Confederate forces moved through the town repeatedly, and it changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865.
After the war, Harpers Ferry became home to Storer College, which provided education to formerly enslaved people and later welcomed students regardless of race or gender.
Today, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park preserves this complicated history along with the town’s historic streets, river views, and surrounding trails.
A Bridge That Changed the Mountains
West Virginia’s mountains have shaped nearly every part of life in the state—from transportation and industry to culture and recreation.
Few structures demonstrate that better than the New River Gorge Bridge.
Before the bridge opened, drivers had to follow narrow mountain roads down into the gorge, cross the river, and climb back up the other side. The journey could take about 40 minutes.
When the bridge was completed in 1977, it reduced that drive to less than a minute.
Stretching 3,030 feet across the gorge, the bridge was the longest steel arch bridge in the world when it opened. It held that title until 2003 and remains the longest single-span steel arch bridge in the United States.
Once a year, during Bridge Day, the bridge closes to vehicle traffic and welcomes pedestrians, rappellers, and BASE jumpers. Apparently, some people look at a bridge towering hundreds of feet above a river and think, “I should jump off that.”
I am more of a “stand at the overlook and take pictures” kind of traveler.
The surrounding New River Gorge National Park and Preserve offers hiking, climbing, fishing, scenic drives, and some of the country’s best whitewater rafting.
West Virginia Gave Us Mother’s Day
One of West Virginia’s most surprising contributions began in the town of Grafton.
Anna Jarvis wanted to establish a special day honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their families. Her idea was inspired by her own mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, who had organized women to improve public health and care for families before and during the Civil War.
The first formal Mother’s Day church service was held at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton on May 10, 1908. Anna sent 500 white carnations for those attending the service.
Her campaign succeeded, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson officially established Mother’s Day as a national observance.
But there was a twist.
Anna Jarvis became deeply upset when florists, greeting-card companies, and other businesses commercialized the holiday. She believed Mother’s Day should be a sincere and personal expression of love—not an excuse to sell flowers, candy, and cards.
She spent years protesting the very holiday she had worked so hard to create.
The church where the first service was held is now known as the International Mother’s Day Shrine. You can read more about Anna Jarvis and the origins of Mother’s Day through the National Park Service.
A Coal Miner’s Lunch Became a State Favorite
Coal mining played an enormous role in West Virginia’s history, economy, and communities.
Mining was difficult and dangerous work. Miners needed food that was filling, portable, and easy to eat underground without utensils or refrigeration.
Enter the pepperoni roll.
Italian immigrant Giuseppe Argiro had worked in the coal mines before opening the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont. Miners commonly carried bread and sticks of pepperoni in their lunch pails, so Argiro combined the two by baking pepperoni inside a soft roll.
The basic combination may have been eaten in mining families earlier, but Argiro is credited with commercially producing pepperoni rolls beginning around 1927.
As the pepperoni baked, its spicy oils soaked into the surrounding bread. The finished roll was compact, satisfying, and easy to carry into a mine.
Today, West Virginians enjoy pepperoni rolls plain or filled with cheese, peppers, or other additions. What began as a practical coal miner’s lunch has become one of the state’s most beloved foods.
You can read more about the story from West Virginia Tourism.
And Then There Is the Mothman
Because no Brock’s World state story is complete without something strange, we need to visit Point Pleasant.
On November 15, 1966, two young couples reported seeing a large, human-shaped creature with wings and glowing red eyes near an abandoned World War II munitions area.
Other sightings followed, and the mysterious figure became known as the Mothman.
The reports later became connected in local folklore to the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge in December 1967, which killed 46 people. Some believed the creature had been warning the community, although the Mothman remains firmly in the realm of legend.
Point Pleasant has fully embraced its unusual resident. The town now has a metallic Mothman statue, a museum, and an annual festival celebrating the creature.
Whether Mothman was a monster, a very large bird, a trick of the darkness, or something else entirely, he has become one of West Virginia’s most recognizable characters.
More Than Country Roads
West Virginia’s story is one of division, determination, hard work, and adaptation.
It became a state while the country was at war. Its people built communities among mountains that made travel difficult, worked dangerous jobs that powered American industry, and created a simple food that became a symbol of home.
It also gave us the first formal Mother’s Day observance, one of America’s most recognizable bridges, and a winged, red-eyed creature with his own festival.
I have not made it to West Virginia yet, but now I know I would want to walk through Harpers Ferry, see the New River Gorge, try an authentic pepperoni roll, have a whoopie pie in honor of my friend, and perhaps wave to the Mothman—preferably from a safe distance.
And in Brock’s World, that’s the truth—with a West by God Virginia twist. 🏔️
