The Highest Mountains in the East

West Virginia has the highest mean elevation of any state east of the Mississippi River, a mountainous terrain that historically isolated its communities from the rest of the country and created a culture with distinctive music, foodways, and dialect. The state's coal deposits, which formed in vast swamps 300 million years ago, powered the industrial development of the eastern United States for over a century. At its peak in the early 20th century, West Virginia produced over 100 million tons of coal per year and was one of the most industrially important states in the country.

Source: City-Data