The flag of the state of West Virginia consists of the state's coat of arms on a white field with a dark blue border. The coat of arms, primarily consisting of the state seal, is featured in the flag's center. The coat of arms symbolizes the state's principal pursuits and resources. The obverse side of the seal bears the legend "State of West Virginia" together with the state motto, Montani Semper Liberi ("mountaineers are always free"). A farmer stands to the left and miner to the right of a large ivy draped rock bearing the date of the state's admission to the Union, June 20, 1863. In front of the rock lie two rifles upon which rests a red Phrygian cap, or cap of liberty. The lower half of the coat of arms is wreathed by the rhododendron, the state flower. The white stands for purity while the blue border represents the Union. The current flag was adopted by the West Virginia legislature on 7 March 1929.
In 2001, the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) surveyed its members on the designs of the 72 U.S. state, U.S. territorial and Canadian provincial flags. The survey found West Virginia's flag to be barely out of the bottom 20, as NAVA ranked it at 51 out of the 72.
Famous quotes containing the words flag and/or west:
“Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day’s demonstration. Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“The west was getting out of gold,
The breath of air had died of cold....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)