West Virginia, Mountain Momma Facts

Harrisville is home to America’s oldest dime store, Berdine’s Five and Dime, where nothing costs more than a dime; sadly, the only currency they’ll accept is America’s oldest dime.

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West Virginia holds the record for having the most towns named after cities in other countries, such as Athens, Cairo, Geneva and Shanghai; so, if your airline ticket to Cairo is a lot less expensive than you expected, you might want to double check it.

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West Virginia is the third most forested state in the United States. West Virginians have a deep love of nature and the moonshine stills they can hide in it.

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The largest sycamore tree in the world was in Webster, West Virginia until, through a deep love of nature, a citizen set fire to that tree. No stills were harmed.

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West Virginia’s Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, a National Historic Landmark, is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America and the second largest lunatic asylum just after the New York Stock Exchange.

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The first brick street in the world was laid in Charleston on Summers Street, a direct result of a brick building falling over into the town’s main road.

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The state was originally going to be named “Kanawha” to honor a Native American tribe; but, the idea was rejected when they decided they’d honored them enough through casual racism and genocide.

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The mast from the USS West Virginia, a casualty of the Pearl Harbor attack, now lives on West Virginia University’s campus, in front of Oglebay Hall. The state is saving up for postage to bring one of it’s boilers and some deck chairs in 2023. Their goal is to have the entire battleship mailed to the state by the year 2136.

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Cecil Underwood made history in 1956 when he became the state’s youngest governor at 34 – then again in 1996 when he became the state’s oldest governor after being reelected at 74. What did he do in-between? Some of the most exhaustive and least effective campaigning in the state’s history.

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Fayetteville, West Virginia, is home to the longest steel arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere, stretching over 3,000 feet over the New River Gorge. The bridge is also one of the most popular locations for photographs and is viewed by many as a work of art and not just a destination for people wanting to commit spectacular suicides.