West Virginia Day 2027

The Mountain State's birthday

West Virginia Day is a legal state holiday observed every June 20 in West Virginia, the anniversary of the day in 1863 when it became the 35th state. West Virginia state employees receive a paid day off, and state agencies, state courts and DMV offices close. The holiday exists only in West Virginia: it is not a federal holiday, so post offices, banks, stock markets and federal agencies operate normally, and the other 49 states are unaffected. When June 20 falls on a Saturday, state offices close on the preceding Friday; when it falls on a Sunday, they close on the following Monday, the same pattern federal holidays use.

Why June 20

The date is West Virginia's statehood day! President Abraham Lincoln signed the statehood proclamation in April 1863, and it took effect sixyt days later, on June 20, 1863, when the new state government was sworn in at Wheeling with Arthur I. Boreman as its first governor.

A state born of the Civil War

West Virginia is the only state created by separating from a Confederate state during the Civil War. When Virginia voted to seceed from the Union in 1861, delegates from the northwestern counties refused to follow. Meeting at the Wheeling Conventions that spring, they declared the secesion ordinance void and organized the Restored Government of Virginia under Francis H. Pierpont, which then gave the required consant for the western counties to form a new state. Congress passed the statehood bill in 1862, Lincoln signed it after real doubts about its constitutionality, and voters approved a constitution that provided for the gradual abolition of slavery - the legislature made June 20 an official holiday in 1927, and the state has marked its birthday ever since.

How West Virginia celebrates

Observance mixes ceremony with birthday-party trappings. Official events are held in Charleston, the capital, and in Wheeling, the state's birthplace, where Independence Hall — the building where the Wheeling Conventions met — hosts re-enactments and free tours. The Culture Center at the Capitol Complex typically serves birthday cake, and Blenko Glass releases a limited-edition commemorative piece each year in a quantity equal to the state's age, with collectors lining up to buy one. Towns across the state add festivals, cookouts and fireworks, and the holiday doubles as a celebration of Appalachian heritage, from pepperoni rolls to mountain music. State parks and historic sites often waive fees or host special programs, making the day a popular one for family outings across the state.

What it means in practice

• Closed: West Virginia state agencies, state courts, county courthouses and DMV offices.
• Open: federal offices, post offices, banks and businesses everywhere, including in West Virginia.
• Schools: public schools are on summer break by June 20, so the holiday does not affect classes.

For everyone outside the state it is an ordinary June day, but for West Virginians it is the anniversary of a hard, contested founding — a reminder that the state motto, Montani Semper Liberi, mountaineers are always free, was earned in wartime.