1606 The Virginia Colony is established.
1607 The settlement of Jamestown is founded.
1669 John Lederer visits the Blue Ridge Mountains and is the first European to enter West Virginia.
1671 Explorers Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam travel into the Appalachian Mountains and find Kanawha Falls.
1726 German settlers build the settlement of New Mecklenburg.
1748 George Washington surveyed land in West Virginia.
1762 The oldest town in West Virginia, Shepherdstown, is founded.
1776 People petition the Congress to create a 14th state called Westsylvania, but it is denied.
1859 Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal in an attempt to arm the slaves.
1861 When Virginia secedes from the Union at the start of the Civil War.
1861 West Virginia remains loyal to the Union and creates its own government separate from Virginia.
1862 The Battle of Shepherdstown is fought.
1862 Union troops defeat the Confederates at Lewisberg.
1863 West Virginia is admitted as the 35th state.
1865 The Civil War comes to an end and slavery is abolished in the state.
1875 The state capital is moved to Wheeling.
1880 The Hatfields and McCoys begin to feud.
1885 Charleston becomes the permanent state capital.
1960 JFK defeated Hubert Humphrey in the West Virginia primary.
1977 The New River Gorge Bridge opens.