Coal moving through the West Virginia hills… | Southern West Virginia Online

“The West Virginia Hills,” with words by Ellen Ruddell King and music and chorus by Henry Everett Engle, was completed in 1885 in Gilmer County. In 1961, an edited and approved version of “The West Virginia Hills” was made one of the official state songs of West Virginia. Long before it was declared official, however, “The West Virginia Hills” was used on many public occasions. And for nearly four generations — in those days when people more often gathered to sing for pleasure — the old anthem p