Seal of West Virginia

Seal of West Virginia

The West Virginia State Seal was adopted in 1863. The center of the seal contains a boulder that has been inscribed June 20, 1863, the date West Virginia became a state. In front of the boulder lies two crossed rifles and a Liberty Cap to state the State's importance of fighting for liberty. The two men on either side of the boulder represent agriculture and industry. On the left stands a farmer with an ax and plow before a cornstalk. On the other side stands a miner with a pickax, and behind him an anvil and sledge hammer. The outer ring contains the text "State of West Virginia" and the state's motto "Montani Semper Liberi", ("Mountaineers Always Free"). The State Nickname is The Mountain State.

Reverse

The reverse side of laurel and oak leaves, log house, hills, factories and boats is the Governor’s Official Seal.

The Great Seal and Coat-of-Arms of West Virginia "...The reverse of the Great Seal is to be encircled by a wreath composed of laurel and oak leaves, emblematical of valor and strength, with fruits and cereals, productions of the state. For device, a landscape. In the distance, on the left of the disc, a wooded mountain, and on the right a cultivated slope with the log farmhouse peculiar to this region. On the side of the mountain, a representation of the viaduct on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Preston County, one of the great engineering triumphs of the age, with a train of cars about to pass over it....." by the Honorable Joseph H. Diss Debar of Doddridge County. 1863