| Tips and photos for West Virginia vacations and tourism, posted by real travelers and West Virginia locals. Map |
 | West Virginia General Tips | Tips 1 - 10 of 52 |  |
 Pepperoni rolls -- illegal in
some states by kevanrijn
But pepperoni rolls were actually born in this state. You probably won't find them on a restaurant menu, unless you are in the Fairmont area (birthplace of the pepperoni roll). Where you will find them is in convenience stores and grocery stores and bakeries.
What they are is pepperoni (sometimes pepperoni slices, sometimes pepperoni sticks) which has been baked inside a yeast roll. Sometimes cheese has also been baked in the roll along with the pepperoni, sometimes not. It will usually say on the wrapper of the package if it's pepperoni or pepperoni and cheese. The cheese could be mozzarella, provolone or hot pepper cheese. But that's it--plain and simple...yeast roll, pepperoni, and maybe cheese.
According to several sources, an Italian baker, Guiseppe Argiro, who formerly worked in the mines noticed the Italian coal miners mostly bought bread and pepperoni in their lunch pails for their midday meal. Once Argiro quit mining, he opened a bakery and began experimenting with baking pepperoni inside bread until he came up with the perfect pepperoni roll.
The simplicity of the pepperoni roll makes it the perfect road food. Held in one hand, nothing to drip or slip or slop; it holds together until it's gone. And, did I mention this? It's delicious. Ramps and pawpaws are acquired tastes...but pepperoni rolls are usually love at first bite.
You can find everything you ever wanted to know about pepperoni rolls (including recipes) on the following website: http://www.fscwv.edu/users/rheffner/pepperoniroll/
By the way, pepperoni rolls are illegal in some states. No, I'm not kidding. A major difference between West Virginia and Virginia--besides the slavery thing? Pepperoni rolls are ILLEGAL in Virginia.
Why would anyone want to live in a state that didn't want to ban slavery...and does ban pepperoni rolls? ;)
It isn't illegal to eat pepperoni rolls in other states, or even to make them--it's just illegal to sell them! Seriously, it's something to do with regulations passed by the FDA, and Senator Rockefeller got an exemption for West Virginia so the bakeries here could continue to make and sell them.
|
 | |  |
Visiting West Virginia?
Read reviews about West Virginia Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
 by lmkluque
I am a person who avoids hiking or rugged outdoor living, but in this part of West Virginia I wouldn't have minded if we stayed a few days and explored everything!
Driving through the countryside was intoxicating! Nature in this part of the USA is so different from the West Coast and few could deny it's power and beauty. Leave a Comment
|
Probably because of the mountains, it wasn't until 1669, over 60 years after the settlement of Jamestown, that the expedition of John Lederer, a German physician in the employ of colonial governor William Berkeley reached the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains and apparently become the first Europeans to see what is now West Virginia. And the first permanent settlement at Bunker Hill on Mill Creek in Berkeley County did not take place until 1726 almost 60 years after that. The needs and issues of the planter in eastern Virginia were not the same as those of the mountaineers who lived in the western part of the state.
When Viriginia voted to secede from the Union on April 17, 1861, the delegates from 25 counties met at the First Wheeling Convention and repudiated the secession from the Union. The popular vote western counties of Virginia opposed the secession also. Initially the state name was to be Kanawha after the valleys of the Kanawha River, but the 2nd Constitutional Convention decided on West Virginia instead.
In January of 1862, seven men meeting in Parkersburg formed the Colored School Board of Parkersburg, W. Va., and organized a day school for black children, the first public school for blacks in West Virginia. A newspaper article in 1888 stated, "In effect, it was a free school, and the only one manned by colored men in the United States, except the Gaines High School in Cincinnati, O., at that time, and the first school established for colored youth south of the 'Mason and Dixon' line."
On Dec. 31st. President Lincoln approved the act of admission to the Union, to take effect upon the insertion into the State constitution of a clause that would provide for the gradual emancipation of slaves. Finally in 1863 (April 20 th) President Lincoln issued a proclamation admitting West Virginia to the Union after a 60-day waiting period. On June 20th, 1863, West Virginia was admitted to the Union as 35th state
Except for one trip from Baltimore MD to California around Xmas 1964 in a snowstorm and one trip from Leonardtown to Lexington KY in 1983 while pulling a horse trailer (and the mountains made the trip a nightmare in both cases), I have rarely driven though West Virginia
On the trip out to Ohio, I decided not to go up into Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh as I usually did when we were going to visit our son and DIL. Instead we went to Morgantown and spent the night right off I-68. I realized that I didn't have any current maps for the area, but we were tired and didn't feel like trying to find the AAA office in the last afternoon, but the next morning the Morgantown office wasn't open early in the morning. So we drove up to I-79 and went north into Pennsylvania. It was very nasty rainy weather. After striking out in Allentown, we finally got to a AAA office in East Liverpool OH.
These pictures are pictures I took in the early morning as we were leaving West Virginia. Leave a Comment
|
| | |
Don't drink much the night before your trip. If you have a hang-over being on this river is the worst place to be. You get thrown around and the trip requires a lot of paddling. I am always tired and very sore after each trip.
|
If you go in September of later in the yeay, you may want to rent a wetsuit. The water is always cold and if the day is cool, it is only worst when you get wet.
I have never reserved a wetsuit, but it's probably a good idea.
|
Visiting West Virginia?
Read reviews about West Virginia Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
If you go on the Gauley, don't take any thing that you don't want to lose....watches, sunglasses...good shoes!!! lol
|
Charleston West Virginia is the capitol of the state, and is quite different from the other better known Charleston in South Carolina which is in the "Low Country" an has an altitude of only about 118 feet. Charleston WV is HIGH country at over 500 feet higher
The land on which Charleston was build sold to Col. George Clendenin in 1786 by the Bullits who were the first owners. In 1788, Col. Clendenin and his company of Virginia Rangers built FOrt Lee. Some people think that Charleston is named after Col. Clendenin's father, Charles. Charles Town was later shortened to Charleston to avoid confusion with another Charleston Town in present day West Virginia
Charleston is part of Kanawha County. The origin of the word Kanawha (pronounced KAN-A-WA) comes from a West Indian Arawak word for dugout. In fact, a two-story jail was the first county structure ever built. The first floor literally dug into the bank of the Kanawha River.
After 1863, when West Virginia became a state, the capital alternated between Wheeling and Charleston. It wasn't until 1877 that Charleston was finally chose as the capitol.
We spent the night in Charleston on our way home in the spring of 2006. Leave a Comment
|
| | |
 by traveldave
During the Civil War, Wheeling was the headquarters of Virginians opposed to secession from the Union. At the time, the area that is now West Virginia was part of Virginia. The Union supporters in the city organized the State of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. Wheeling served as the state capital from 1863 to 1870, and from 1875 to 1885.
Nowadays, Wheeling is the seat of Ohio County. It is the center of a metropolitan area of around 160,000 inhabitants which includes Belmont County, Ohio, across the Ohio River from Wheeling.
Wheeling lies near West Virginia's coal- and natural-gas-producing region, and many of the city's industries are fueled by coal or natural gas. The city is also an important coal shipping center. The most important aspect of Wheeling's economy, however, is tourism. Visitors are attracted by the city's parks, historic sites, and local events. Leave a Comment
|
| | |
 by lmkluqueLeave a Comment
|
 A Country Road in West
Virginia by Stephen-KarenConn, 3 more photos
Words by Mrs. Ellen King,
Music by H. E. Engle
1. Oh, the West Virginia hills! How majestic and how grand,
With their summits bathed in glory, Like our Prince Immanuel's Land!
Is it any wonder then, That my heart with rapture thrills,
As I stand once more with loved ones On those West Virginia hills?
CHORUS:
Oh, the hills, beautiful hills, How I love those West Virginia hills!
If o'er sea o'er land I roam, Still I'll think of happy home,
And my friends among the West Virginia hills.
2. Oh, the West Virginia hills! Where my childhood hours were passed,
Where I often wandered lonely, And the future tried to cast;
Many are our visions bright, Which the future ne'er fulfills;
But how sunny were my daydreams On those West Virginia hills!
CHORUS
3. Oh, the West Virginia hills! How unchang'd they seem to stand,
With their summits pointed skyward To the Great Almighty's Land!
Many changes I can see, Which my heart with sadness fills;
But no changes can be noticed In those West Virginia hills.
CHORUS
4. Oh, the West Virginia hills! I must bid you now adieu.
In my home beyond the mountains I shall ever dream of you;
In the evening time of life, If my Father only wills,
I shall still behold the vision Of those West Virginia hills.
CHORUS
The above song, and also "West Virginia My Home" and "This is My West Virginia" are all three official West Virginina state songs.
However, despite the "official" songs of West Virginia, the unofficial state song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads," as recorded by John Denver, is far more popular.
Take Me Home, Country Roads
Words and music by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver
Almost Heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge mountains
Shenandoah River -
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gathered round her
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
I hear her voice
In the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country roads
Take me home, now country roads Leave a Comment
|
| | |
|
|
