History:Our history begins over 1000 years ago. In Bolivar, Native American artifacts have been found from the 12th Century—300 years before Columbus arrived in the New World. The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia was the home of tribes of the Iroquois Nation when European settlers first arrived. The Delaware and Shawnee tribes hunted in the area during spring and summer seasons. Explorer Louis Michel, looking for land for a Swiss settlement, reported Indians in the area during his 1706 travels along the west bank of the Potomac River.