Blank West Virginia map

What the outline shows

The map draws the state boundary. The Northern Panhandle is a thin strip reaching north between Ohio and Pennsylvania, bounded by the Ohio River on the west and a straight meridian on the east. The Eastern Panhandle reaches northeast between Maryland and Virginia, bounded by the Potomac on the north. The Ohio River forms the whole western border, and the Big Sandy and Tug Fork rivers the southwest border with Kentucky. The southeast and east against Virginia follow ridgelines and county lines with many angles. The short north edge with Pennsylvania is the Mason–Dixon Line. Nothing inside is drawn. Press Capital to mark Charleston on the Kanawha River in the west-central part of the state, and Abbreviation for "WV".

Portrait or landscape

West Virginia is about 240 miles from the northern tip to the southern border and about 265 miles from the Ohio River to the end of the Eastern Panhandle, but the two panhandles pull in different directions, so the shape sits inside a roughly square box. Portrait gives a slightly larger print, with the Northern Panhandle reaching to the top of the page and the Eastern Panhandle to the right margin. Landscape prints almost as large. Either way, the shape leaves empty corners at the top left and bottom right that can hold a key.

Five classroom exercises

1. Trace the Ohio River as the entire western border and mark Ohio across it; then mark the Northern Panhandle with Wheeling near its top.
2. Draw the Potomac River along the Eastern Panhandle's northern edge and mark Harpers Ferry, where the Shenandoah joins it at the Panhandle's tip.
3. Draw the Kanawha River from the southeast northwest through Charleston to the Ohio at Point Pleasant, and the New River feeding it from the south.
4. Draw the Monongahela River flowing north from near Fairmont into Pennsylvania, and note that it reaches the Ohio at Pittsburgh.
5. Place Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg and Wheeling, and mark Spruce Knob in the east as the highest point.

How to recognise the West Virginia outline

• A jagged shape with two thin panhandles: one pointing north, one pointing northeast.
• A wavy left edge (the Ohio River) running from the Northern Panhandle to the Kentucky line.
• A sawtoothed right edge along the Virginia mountains.
• Often described as a frog or a leaping animal; the Northern Panhandle is the raised arm.

Answer key and related maps

• West Virginia map — the labeled version with capital, cities and borders; use it as the answer key.
• Printable West Virginia map — the same outline with cities, county lines and the capital printed on.
• West Virginia county map — all 55 counties with their seats.
• Charleston — capital and largest city, on the Kanawha.
• Neighbours: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio.
• Ohio River, Appalachian Mountains and Mason–Dixon Line.
• All blank state maps and the printable US maps index.