Flag of West Virginia

What the flag shows

• The field. Pure white, with a blue strip bordering all four sides.
• The coat of arms. In its proper colors at the center. A farmer and a miner stand beside a large rock bearing the admission date, June 20, 1863. In front, two crossed hunting rifles hold up a Phrygian cap of liberty, and the motto Montani Semper Liberi appears below.
• The ribbon. Above the arms, with the words “State of West Virginia.”
• The wreath. Rhododendron maximum, the state flower, around the lower part of the arms.

The secretary of state reads the arms this way: the rock stands for strength, the farmer with his axe for agriculture, the miner with his pick for industry, and the rifles and cap of liberty show that freedom was won by arms and will be defended. The flag’s proportions match those of the US flag, and flags for parades get gold fringe on three sides.

The first flags

On January 28, 1864, the Legislature authorized a first state flag, which was presented to military regiments before the Civil War ended. In 1905 a resolution made official the flag first used at the 1904 St. Louis exposition: a sprig of big laurel, or rhododendron, on a white field, with the coat of arms and motto on the back, a blue border and a carmine-red fringe.

Two sides that didn’t work

That flag had problems. A 1907 resolution called it unworkable: the lettering on one side read toward the staff, and the designs on the two sides showed through the white cloth. The new version put the seal and a “State of West Virginia” scroll on the front and the rhododendron on the back, with a blue border and old-gold fringe.

One side, 1929

The two-sided flag cost too much for schools and others to buy, so on March 7, 1929, the Legislature adopted the current single design, moving the rhododendron into a wreath around the coat of arms. West Virginia has no official pledge or salute to its flag.