Jerry Sutphin

West Virginia's State Capitols were much like a nomad roaming to find the ideal spot to pitch a tent.

The state's seat of government moved multiple times from Wheeling to Charleston as the political tug of war waged over where the Capitol should be located. Six statehouses served as the state's Capitol.

In those days, there were no Mayflower moving vans sneaking the Capitol away in the middle of the night as the Baltimore Colts' franchise did in 1984. River historian Jerry Sutphin explains in an interview for our documentary project that the mode of transportation was the river.

Early in our state's history, the West Virginia Capitol was nicknamed "The Floating Capitol" because it literally floated back and forth between Wheeling and Charleston.

Sutphin, co-author of a book entitled, "Sternwheelers on the Great Kanawha," discusses why this mode of transportation was used and the significance of the river to the Capitol.

"At that period, there were no adequate roads, there were limited railroads and the travel and transportation was all carried on the rivers. Packet boats and riverboats were the way of transportation," he says. "To do this means that our rivers were our first interstates and they carried trades throughout."

Sutphin is more than qualified to be a guide to lead such a historical journey. His extensive library is filled with riverboat memorabilia that tells the important roles the vessels played in our state and nation's history. For "A Moving Monument: The West Virginia State Capitol," he shared vintage photos from his collection that show "The Floating Capitol" and the journeys by steamboat.