Find videos, resources and activities for teaching civic education in WV classrooms.
Nominate an exceptional West Virginia teacher today!
On Demand
On Demand
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
Make WVPB part of your legacy.
Manage your membership account.
Learn how you can Protect and Sustain West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
There was a time that life along the river revolved around riverboats. In the 19th century, the only way to get supplies or mail was the river. To keep the history of the river alive, a community of enthusiasts in West Virginia and Ohio maintain riverboats for their personal use.
The original riverboats were called “sternwheelers.” The stern is the back of the boat, so these riverboats had a paddlewheel that provided thrust to propel the boat up and down the river.
Eighty to ninety sternwheelers worked the Kanawha and Ohio rivers at their peak, according to Jack Fowler, the director of the Point Pleasant River Museum and Learning Center. Today, only a few still operate as work boats, but there are many more that private owners maintain for recreational use.
“These guys that have these sternwheelers just preserve those memories and what it used to be like,” he said. “It just keeps the spirit of the river alive, about what it was like back in the day.”
One of those private owners is JD Pauley. His boat, the Hobby 3, was built as a pleasure boat.
“I’ve owned this boat for 22 years now and it’s just the people you meet, the things you do, the places you go. It’s I wouldn’t I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade it for a million dollar vessel.”
Tom Cook is the treasurer of the American Sternwheel Association. The group works to preserve and educate the public about sternwheel boats and has been in operation since 1976. Cook is worried about the future of sternwheelers, though, as membership in the group falls.
“It doesn’t seem like that the younger people are as interested, or maybe they just don’t have the resources to purchase,” he said. “A lot of the people that own boats now are getting older so there’s there’s several for sale right now.”
In September, a series of riverboat festivals will be held in communities along the Ohio River that will give people a chance to see a bit of floating history. Events are scheduled in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, Marietta, Ohio, Wheeling, West Virginia, Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Pomeroy, Ohio.
A lot of people who came of age listening to the Grand Ole Opry know Little Jimmy Dickens. With his clever songs and his rhinestone-studded outfits, the West Virginia native influenced a generation of performers. Now he’s remembered in a new book of poetry.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsFor some Americans, this year’s political earthquakes hit close to home. Trey Kay reflects on federal budget cuts, the elimination of programs and agencies and the resulting layoffs of hundreds of thousands of workers. 2025 was also a year highlighting escalated immigration enforcement, and the deployment of National Guard troops in U.S. cities. One of those missions resulted in the tragic loss of a West Virginia National Guard soldier. On this end-of-year episode of Us & Them, we examine how today’s culture-war battles are reshaping the nation’s foundation.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsFederal funding for arts and culture has been curtailed. Trey Kay looks at the reasons in the latest Us & Them. Also, the state board of education has approved another round of school closures and consolidations, the state Legislature is expected to take up several bills in the coming session to address foster care and children who are homeless, and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsIt’s common at Christmastime for churches and businesses to set up angel trees, decorated with paper ornaments holding a child’s name and wish list. Trees set up this year for the children of Iaeger, West Virginia, reflect the long-term damage done by the February floods that devastated McDowell County.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
