West Virginia Trivia & Tidbits - Page 3

Looking for West Virginia trivia? Try our list West Virginia little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

—Track and field athlete John Ware Jr. of Martinsburg (pop. 14,972) won a gold medal in the long jump in the 2007 Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China.

first appeared: 1/27/2008

—The official state tree is the sugar maple, designated in 1949. The tree produces maple syrup and its wood is excellent for furniture.

first appeared: 1/13/2008

—Built in 1889, Dents Run is the last covered bridge in Monongalia County. The bridge is 12 feet 10 inches wide and 40 feet long.

first appeared: 12/30/2007

—Seneca State Forest, near the Greenbrier River in Pocahontas County (pop. 9,131,) is West Virginia’s oldest state forest. Named for the Seneca Indians, who once lived in the region, the forest offers camping, swimming, fishing and more than 11,000 acres of lush woodlands for hiking, hunting or communing with nature.

first appeared: 11/18/2007

—Austin Hendrickson of Huntington (pop. 51,475) rolled to a first-place finish in the National Super Kids Classic race during the 70th All-American Soap Box Derby in July in Akron, Ohio. Sixty-one youngsters, ages 8 to 18, participated in the race for children with disabilities.

first appeared: 11/4/2007

—The state’s official animal is the black bear, designated in 1973, and once in decline. Today, the black bear population totals about 12,000, with sightings in all 55 counties.

first appeared: 10/21/2007

—Beartown State Park near Hillsboro (pop. 243) earned its name because residents claimed that the many cave-like openings in the rocks made ideal bear dens and the deep narrow crevices between the large boulders formed a crisscross pattern resembling the streets of a town.

first appeared: 10/7/2007

—During 5 p.m. rush-hour traffic on Dec. 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River collapsed, killing 46 people. Built in 1928, the bridge linked Point Pleasant (pop. 4,637) and Kanauga, Ohio.

first appeared: 9/30/2007

—The first memorial built to honor the 400,000 blacks who fought in World War I was the Kimball World War Memorial, dedicated in 1928 in Kimball (pop. 411). About 1,500 of those veterans were from McDowell County (pop. 27,329).

first appeared: 9/9/2007

—The Hatfield-McCoy Trails near Gilbert (pop. 417) include a network of more than 500 miles of mountainous trails for all-terrain vehicle riders. The trails are on private land, which is unusual.

first appeared: 8/26/2007

—Called “Jefferson Rock,” a pile of shale boulders near Harpers Ferry (pop. 307) offers a sweeping view of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. When Thomas Jefferson stood at the spot in 1783, he described the view as one of nature’s “most stupendous scenes.”

first appeared: 8/12/2007

—The first county 4-H camp in the nation was held at Camp Good Luck in Randolph County (pop. 28,262) in 1915.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

—Students learn the history and how-to of falconry—hunting with a trained bird of prey—at the Falconry Academy at The Greenbrier, a resort in White Sulphur Springs (pop. 2,315).

first appeared: 7/15/2007

—Since 1791, Reed’s Mill in Monroe County (pop. 14,583) has been in continuous operation grinding corn, buckwheat and wheat into meal and flour.

first appeared: 7/1/2007

—Born in 1926 in Nitro (pop. 6,824), Lew Burdette was named Most Valuable Player of the 1957 World Series when he pitched the Milwaukee Braves to victory over the New York Yankees in their only series championship. Burdette died in February at age 80.

first appeared: 6/17/2007

—In 1966, men working in a cemetery in Clendenin (pop. 1,116) reported seeing a brown manlike creature fly from the trees. Multiple sightings of Mothman, as he became known, also were reported in Point Pleasant (pop. 4,637), where a statue of Mothman adorns Gunn Park.

first appeared: 6/3/2007

—Richard Blenko, 52, preserves the ancient art of glassmaking at Blenko Glass Co., established by his great-grandfather, William John Blenko, in 1921 in Milton (pop. 2,206).

first appeared: 5/28/2007

—Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi (pop. 2,870) sponsors the University of Hard Knocks, an honorary society founded in 1947 to recognize people who have attained success without the benefit of higher education. The group holds commencement exercises each June.

first appeared: 5/6/2007

—Blennerhassett Island near Parkersburg (pop. 33,099) became famous as the headquarters of Aaron Burr’s 1806-1807 conspiracy with Harman Blennerhassett to create an empire in the Southwest. The island now is a state park.

first appeared: 4/22/2007

—On Oct. 1, 1896, rural free delivery (RFD) mail service began as an experiment at Charles Town (pop. 2,907), Halltown and Uvilla. By 1900, there were more than 1,000 RFD routes.

first appeared: 4/8/2007

jump to page: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18

newspaper partner login create account

Recent

Popular

Recipes

Below are the most recent American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile recipes:

Relish

Spry

Below are the most recent articles from our Relish sister site. Click on the "Spry" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.

Below are the most recent articles from our Spry sister site. Click on the "Relish" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.