THE WORST STATES, PART TWO
Why Would You Willingly Move To Wild, Wonderful West Virginia?
“Almost Heaven?” Think again.
Why is West Virginia?
Well, Virginia decided to secede from the Union during the Civil War, and the Western parts of the former state were sharply divided about secession, primarily over the issue of slavery. So, it separated from Virginia and became a new state in 1863.
But it wasn’t all about slavery, and West Virginia didn’t entirely end the ownership of slaves. It was, however, the last slave state to enter the Union. In 1865, the governor signed an act officially freeing all slaves.
West Virginia's shape looks like a Republican-gerrymandered voting district, but it has to do with the Civil War. For instance, the Union wanted the Eastern Panhandle to maintain control of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (or the B&O, as Monopoly fans might know it).
The Northern Panhandle is home to Wheeling, the state’s sixth-largest city but once the largest. Since its heyday in 1930, it has lost 44% of its population.
The Northern panhandle gets its unusual length from a separate agreement made with Pennsylvania that the border between the two states would run straight north from a set point…
