 Prior to the arrival of European American settlers and explorers , the Allegheny Plateau region of West Virginia , lying to the west of the Allegheny and Cumberland mountain ranges of the Appalachian Mountains , was overlaid with old @-@ growth forests consisting predominantly of deciduous mixed oaks and chestnut trees . The cove forests of the Appalachian Mountains were undisturbed for approximately 300 million years , and the ample moisture and deep soils of cove topography allowed for the proliferation of temperate broadleaf and mixed forest species . 
