Charleston is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia and the seat of Kanawha County. It is at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers. The population was 48,864 at the 2020 census. According to 2023 census estimates, the city has a population of 46,838. The Charleston metropolitan area had 203,164 residents in 2023.
Wood County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 84,296, making it West Virginia's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat is Parkersburg. The county was formed in 1798 from the western part of Harrison County and named for James Wood, governor of Virginia from 1796 to 1799.
Mason County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,453. Its county seat and largest city is Point Pleasant. The county was founded in 1804 and named for George Mason, delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention. Before the Civil War, the county was in the State of Virginia.
Logan County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,567. Its county seat is Logan. Logan County comprises the Logan, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Charleston–Huntington–Ashland, WV–OH–KY Combined Statistical Area.
Kanawha County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 180,745, making it West Virginia's most populous county. The county seat is Charleston, which is also the state capital and most populous city. Kanawha County is part of the Charleston, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Cabell County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94,350, making it West Virginia's fourth most-populous county. Its county seat is Huntington. The county was organized in 1809 and named for William H. Cabell, the Governor of Virginia from 1805 to 1808. Cabell County is part of the Huntington–Ashland, WV–KY–OH Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Sissonville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States, along the Pocatalico River. The population was 4,028 at the 2010 census. Sissonville is located within 14 miles of Charleston, the state capital.
Sistersville is a city in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,413 at the 2020 census. The Sistersville Ferry crosses the Ohio River to the unincorporated community of Fly in Monroe County, Ohio.
Montgomery is a city in West Virginia, United States, along the Kanawha River. Most of the city is in Fayette County, with the remainder in Kanawha County. The population was 1,280 at the 2020 census.
The Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its watershed has been a significant industrial region of the state since early in the 19th century.
The Little Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 169 mi (269 km) long, in western West Virginia in the United States. Via the Ohio, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 2,320 mi2 (6,009 km2) on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau. It served as an important commercial water route in the early history of West Virginia, particularly in the logging and petroleum industries.
Arthur Ingram Boreman was an American lawyer, politician and judge who helped found the U.S. state of West Virginia. Raised in Tyler County, West Virginia, he served as the state's first Governor, and a United States senator, as well as represented Wood County in the Virginia House of Delegates, and served as a circuit judge before and after his federal service.
Rand is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Kanawha River in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,631. It is surrounded by the communities of Malden and DuPont City.
George Wesley Atkinson was a cavalryman, lawyer, politician, judge and scholar who became the 10th Governor of West Virginia after running as the candidate of the Republican Party. He also served in the West Virginia House of Delegates, as well as in the U.S. Congress from West Virginia and ended his career of public service as a United States federal judge of the Court of Claims.
George William Summers was an attorney, politician, and judge from Virginia.
Samuel I. Cabell was a wealthy Virginia plantation owner in the Kanawha River valley who may have been murdered for marrying one of his former slaves and providing for their descendants. Although seven white men were acquitted of crime, his will was honored and his descendants went on to lead productive lives. Part of his former plantation approximately nine miles west of what soon became the new state capital at Charleston, West Virginia became West Virginia State University, a historically black college.
Joplin is an unincorporated community in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. It is likely named after an early white settler in Kanawha County, James Jopling. In the early 19th century, Jopling purchased land alongside the creek later called Joplin Branch, a tributary of the Kanawha River. Many of Jopling's children and grandchildren lived along the creek near the family patriarch, and gave the community its name. James Jopling was described as "a man of powerful frame, and loved adventure. He was a noted trapper, hunter, and Indian fighter, and delighted in relating his narrow escapes and wonderful feats in woods life." Jopling also reportedly killed the last elk in the region, nearby on the Elk River.
The Mathews family is an American political family descended from John Mathews and Ann Archer, originating in colonial Virginia and active in Virginia and the American South in the 18th–20th centuries.
William Gordon Mathews was a Federal judge and lawyer from Charleston, West Virginia, serving as Referee in Bankruptcy for Kanawha, West Virginia 1898–1908, and Clerk of the Court for Kanawha 1903–1904.
Norris Wilson Hensley was an insurance agent in Tampa, Florida.
