Why is it West Virginia and not North Virginia?
I saw another thread with this same question however it was locked for commenting.
I don’t have the answer but I do have a theory and wonder if someone can confirm or deny it.
i think the reason is similar to Indiana and Ohio being in the “midwest”. if you put yourselves in the mindset of the people of that time, most of the population and major cities were all in eastern Virginia. “North Virginia“ certainly makes so much more sense, especially when you consider that the northern panhandle is partially north of I-70 today and as far north as Pittsburgh and even New York City! But again, with the population mainly in the east, the separating counties would have all been part of “western Virginia“ even though part of “western Virginia“ stayed with Virginia. so you really had three parts if I understand the geography. the eastern part, which was east of the Appalachians, the western part, divided by the Appalachians but then was subdivided by the parts that left and the parts that stayed. So the northern parts of “western Virginia” became “West Virginia” and it doesn’t appear that much thought was given to the fact that the westernmost point stayed behind.