Talk:West Virginia

In the October 1861 election the article says that "18,408 votes were cast for the new state and 781 against." But the graphic showing the vote by county has only two counties (Monogalia and Preston) where the yes votes exceeded 50% of the total. Many counties don't show any votes for statehood. What's going on? I looked up the source, only to figure out that much of this history is taken nearly verbatim from the Encyclopedia Brittanica's poorly written article on West Virginia. There's no source for the graphic, so I have no idea where the data came from. MiguelMunoz (talk) 03:05, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

Many counties had no vote on statehood. The percentages in red show what percent of that county voted for statehood, relative to the number of voters in that county. The vote results can be found in Richard O. Curry's book "A House Divided". The number of voters in each county was taken from the 8th United States Census. The vote was poorly attended, so few counties had over 50% in favor. See this page from the WV Archives https://archive.wvculture.org/history/statehood/statehood10.html Dubyavee (talk) 03:44, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

The article claims "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." but the source is an article from 2007 that itself doesn't cite any sources and as a governmental source is subject to the biases of the elected officials at the time. Given the article no longer appears on the site (and presumably the issuing organization no longer stands by it) I don't think this line can be adequately sourced anymore. Ulrichomega (talk) 14:47, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

I updated the link Dubyavee (talk) 16:01, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

The broadside describes a man who committed arson. Since he is Black, he was most likely enslaved, although this is not stated or alluded to. It is from authorities seeking to convict him of arson, at least on face value.

Is there any unstated context of that particular image? Because if not, it seems like an inappropriate choice for the discussion of slavery and runaway slaves. Just-a-can-of-beans (talk) 14:56, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

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The redirect "WV" has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 August 12 § "WV" until a consensus is reached. ArthananWarcraft (talk) 17:44, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

A recent edit asserts that Vermont is "landlocked", while West Virginia is not. Per definition (various dictionaries) "enclosed by land and having no navigable route to the sea." the assertion is false. West Virginia is well above the navigable reaches of the Potomac (see Great Falls), while Vermont has navigable access to the ocean via Lake Champlain (see Waterways. While arguably West Virginia is accessible via the Ohio River (with its own navigation issues), Vermont has far more ready access to the ocean than West Virginia (about 300 vs 900 miles). TEDickey (talk) 23:51, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Forgot about the Ohio River. Also, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal enabled historic navigation around Great Falls. Still not landlocked according to the criteria. Magnolia677 (talk) 12:52, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

You forgot that the C & O canal mostly lacks water, and doesn't provide a way around the falls. You might want to read the topics that I linked. According to the available definitions, neither Vermont or West Virginia has any advantage over the other for the term "landlocked" TEDickey (talk) 13:18, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

By your definition, both West Virginia and Vermont are landlocked. Magnolia677 (talk) 15:28, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

Both or neither: one can boat from the ocean to either, but only via locks and canals. That's been the case for quite a while (a quick check of the relevant topics says that happened for both in the early 19th century). TEDickey (talk) 00:14, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

Of course (as done in this edit) one can find people referring to either state as "landlocked". For example The reason why landlocked WV has a lighthouse. Some are inaccurate: e.g., Which U.S. States are Landlocked?. This one half-agrees Landlocked States Of The United States, but still doesn't get the part about navigability correct TEDickey (talk) 22:05, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

What is the context of this edit anyway? 2606:A800:C880:600:D9D5:C38D:13D9:389F (talk) 02:28, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

It is a followup (see page history) which asserted that West Virginia is the most-Eastern landlocked US state, which was removed by an advocate of Vermont, whose claim to the title is unfactual. I began this discussion to suggest how to improve the issue. TEDickey (talk) 08:57, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

• Ultimately we go by what sources say, and most call both West Virginia (WV Public Broadcasting, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Routledge, Bloomsbury, WOWK, Simon and Schuster) and Vermont (Nat Geo, University Press of New England, Yankee Mag/Simon and Schuster, Passport Books, Burlington Free Press, Brattleboro Reformer, Vox, Vermont Public) landlocked states. If the point of contention is that there's no good source calling Vermont the easternmost landlocked state, then leave that factoid of both articles. I removed the entire paragraph, because without any reference to this dispute within the body text (I don't count the {{Discuss}} tag), the comparison to Vermont in the Geography section appears apropos of nothing. Make it a hidden comment to prevent squabbling if need be, but per WP:V if published sources don't compare the two in this aspect, neither should we. DigitalIceAge (talk) 01:51, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

Is their any reason why this infobox has multiple different state seals? Is there a previous consensus? If so, i think they should be better organized by labeling the two to differentiate them. If not, we should remove the one used less frequently by the government. BigRed606 (talk) 17:12, 25 February 2026 (UTC)