Interstate 77 in West Virginia Interstate 77 in West Virginia In the U.S. state of West Virginia, Interstate 77 (I-77) is a major north–south Interstate highway. It extends for between Bluefield at the Virginia state line to Williamstown at the Ohio state line. The highway serves Charleston, the capital and largest city in West Virginia; it also serves the cities of Beckley, Bluefield, and Parkersburg. I-77 uses the entire length of the West Virginia Turnpike between Princeton and Charleston, and it is concurrent with Interstate 64 between Beckley and Charleston. Interstate 77 enters West Virginia from Virginia via the East River Mountain Tunnel; it is
Wheeling, West Virginia Government of Virginia from 1861 to 1863, and became the first capital of West Virginia after it seceded from Virginia and was admitted to the Union in its own right in 1863. The growing German population, which included immigrants after the 1848 Revolutions, was firmly anti-slavery. The Germans of Wheeling organized the "First West Virginia Artillery" to oppose the Confederacy and played a role in the initial movement to separate from Virginia. The Germans' culture influenced the city, such as their "German Singing Societies," the first of which began in 1855. Although Wheeling lost its position as state capital in