The History Project: The Willow Island Disaster
The History Project
Willow Island is a small community along the Ohio River between Parkersburg and St. Marys and its name suggests a tranquil place, but on April 27, 1978, any tranquility was destroyed by a construction accident that would forever change the communities of the region. YouTube Link:
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The History Project: James Rumsey & The Invention of the Steamboat
The History Project
We live in a world of invention but sometimes stories fail to explain that inventors work from ideas that were already in place. Robert Fulton gets credit for inventing the steamboat, but James Rumsey and others created the foundation on which he worked. YouTube Link:
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The History Project: Bramwell
The History Project
Manhattan, Beverly Hills and…Bramwell? When one thinks of the wealthiest places in America, a small West Virginia town developed by a railroad to serve coal interests may not come to mind, but Bramwell once held the title as the wealthiest town in the U.S. per capita. YouTube Link:
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The History Project: The Elkins-Abruzzi Affair
The History Project
Wallis Simpson and Meghan Markle are famous for their marriages into European royalty, but before them West Virginian Katherine Elkins found herself at the center of a romance with an Italian duke that captured the world’s attention.
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The History Project: The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
The History Project
The facility’s very name informs us that the hospital was both built in antebellum Virginia and in an era when views about mental health were much less sophisticated. But there’s even more to the story than meets the eye in this landmark structure and its long history.
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The History Project: A Clash in the Wilderness – The Battle of Point Pleasant, Part 2
The History Project
Lord Dunmore’s war comes to a violent conclusion as Colonel Lewis & The Virginia Militia clashes with Chief Cornstalk and his Shawnee warriors in Pt. Pleasant, which would increase hostility between settlers and settlers, and severe American loyalty to England.
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The History Project: A Prelude to War – The Battle of Point Pleasant, Part 1
The History Project
Colonial America was a cauldron of imperialism and territorial disputes, which set in motion Lord Dunmore’s War, one of the continent’s most significant skirmishes which would help to launch the American Revolution.
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The History Project: The Alderson Federal Women’s Prison
The History Project
It is said that “Well-behaved women seldom make history,” and when Martha Stewart was sentenced to serve five months in FPC, Alderson, the world learned more about American history-makers both well-regarded or social pariahs.
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The History Project: The Four Points of West Virginia
The History Project
With two jutting panhandles and western and southern extremes, West Virginia’s unusual shape gives it four points like a compass rose, placing the Mountain State into the cross section of the Eastern United States.
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The History Project: The River Industry
The History Project
West Virginia is the watershed of some of the nation’s most storied rivers, some scenic and others industrial, they first used for exploration but later used for commercial development, as they are still used today.
info_outlineSince West Virginia developed first as part of Virginia, many of its county names come from the mother state’s politics, but after its separation, the names diverge into the new state’s history. Learn more about which kinds of politicians have the most counties named for them, which individual gave us two county names, and which is the only county named for a woman.