Tomorrow, residents of my native West Virginia will celebrate the state’s 143rd birthday. It also marks as an anniversary of sorts to President Abraham Lincoln’s decision to violate the U.S. Constitution to permit the people of western Virginia who were loyal to the Union to enter the Union during the Civil War.
The history surrounding how West Virginia was formed is very interesting. You have two governments acting as if they serve the interests of Virginia, and at the same time the western counties making a move to remain in the union through a new state.
If you’re interested in theatre, there is an outdoor drama, “Honey in the Rock” at Grandview State Park, near where I grew up, that tells the story of how the state was created.
