A day's drive from some of the nation's largest cities (ie. Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Columbus, Lexington, and Roanoke) but world's apart in its lifestyle and topography. West Virginia contains the few remaining vestiges of America's 19th century pioneering lifestyle.

Its densely forested mountains loom over the horizons in a state with more mountain peaks than any other East of the Mississippi River. West Virginia has the third highest percentage of forested land (77%) behind New Hampshire and Maine. A wild and untamed haven for Eastern America's wildlife amidst its cool, clear, trout filled mountain streams. The completion of a complex network of bridges and interstates only recently brought urban life to the East's most remote mountainous state.

Difficult to farm, almost impossible for early settlers to traverse, West Virginia was left largely unsettled until coal was discovered in the mid-1800s. Coal brought the first major influx of European immigrants to West Virginia. Followed by farmers who tilled what little level land existed in the valleys. Today West Virginia ranks third in coal production behind Wyoming and Kentucky. Coal, tourism, and agriculture are the state's leading industries. Without the high tech centers and corporate investments of the nation's larger cities; West Virginia ranks 49th in personal income with an annual salary of $19,973. Only Mississippi has a lower income.

WV, Map depicting West Virgina's major concentrations of coal (gray areas)

Bridges became West Virginia's gateway to the outside world and the state leads the nation in their size and construction complexity. West Virginia's New River Gorge Bridge north of Fayetteville on Rt 19 has the world's longest single arch steel span and is the second highest bridge in the U.S. standing 876 feet high. This bridge was completed in 1977 and is 3,030 feet long. West Virginia's simple truss, steel truss, cantilever, and continuous box bridges are also some of the highest bridges in the United States. They are located in Chester, Raleigh, Ravenswood, and Beckley respectively.