|
Northwestern Turnpike
The Northwestern Turnpike is a historic road in West Virginia (Virginia at the time the road was created), important for being historically one of the major roads crossing the Appalachians, financed by the Virginia Board of Public Works in the 1830s. In modern times, west of Winchester, Virginia, U.S. Route 50 follows the path of the Northwestern Turnpike into West Virginia, whose major Corridor D project follows the western section of the original Northwestern Turnpike. History The following description of the Northwestern Turnpike is taken from Dr. J. M. Callahan's ''Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia'', pages 106-9, published in 1913: "The old Northwestern Turnpike, extending from Winchester, Virginia on a general westward course to Parkersburg, West Virginia on the Ohio, is a historic highway which deserves more mention than it has ever received as a factor related to the American westward movement and to the problem of communication between East and West. It was the i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies the state as a part of the Mid-Atlantic regionMid-Atlantic Home : Mid-Atlantic Information Office: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics" www.bls.gov. Archived. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north and east, Maryland to the east and northeast, Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. West Virginia is the 10th-smallest state by area and ranks as the 12th-least populous state, with a population of 1,793,716 residents. The capital and largest city is Charleston. West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key border state during the American Civil War. It was the only state to form by separating from a Confederate state, the second to sepa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarksburg, West Virginia
Clarksburg is a city in and the county seat of Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, in the north-central region of the state. The population of the city was 16,039 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Clarksburg micropolitan area, which had a population of 90,434 in 2020. Clarksburg was named National Small City of the Year in 2011 by the National League of Cities. History Indigenous peoples have lived in the area for thousands of years. The Oak Mounds outside Clarksburg were created by the Hopewell culture mound builders between 1 and 1000 C.E. The first known non-indigenous visitor to the area that later became Clarksburg was John Simpson, a trapper, who in 1764 located his camp on the West Fork River opposite the mouth of Elk Creek at approximately (39.28128, -80.35145) Settlement and early history As early as 1772, settlers began claiming lands near where Clarksburg now stands, and building cabins. In 1773, Major Daniel Davisson (1748-1819) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mechanicsburg Gap
Mechanicsburg Gap (also known as Mill Creek Gap) is a water gap through Mill Creek Mountain in Hampshire County, West Virginia, Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Mechanicsburg Gap allows for the passage of the Northwestern Turnpike (U.S. Route 50 in West Virginia, U.S. Route 50/West Virginia Route 28) and Mill Creek (South Branch Potomac River), Mill Creek through Mill Creek Mountain. It takes its name from the community of Mechanicsburg, West Virginia, Mechanicsburg at the gap's western entrance. Today, Mechanicsburg Gap has a number of interesting features within it. Near The Burg (an 18th-century home) lies the Romney Spring which flows from a Polyvinyl chloride, PVC pipe at the foot of the gap which is visited daily by its patrons along the side of U.S. Route 50. Mechanicsburg Gap is also home to the now closed limestone rock quarry which has cut a massive hole into the gap's northern wall. Adjacent to the quarry is the former Evelyn's Restaurant, which was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hampshire County, West Virginia
Hampshire County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,093. Its county seat is Romney, West Virginia's oldest town (1762). The county was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1754, from parts of Frederick and Augusta Counties (Virginia) and is the state's oldest county. The county lies in both West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle and Potomac Highlands regions. Hampshire County is part of the Winchester, VA-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Name Although its creation was authorized in 1754, Hampshire County was not actually organized until 1757 (WV County Founding Dates and Etymology). Other editions available at ASINbr>B009CI6FRIanInternet Archive because the area was not considered safe due to the outbreak of the French and Indian War (1754–1763). According to Samuel Kercheval's ''A History of the Valley of Virginia'' (1833), the county was named in honor of its several prize hogs. The story goes that Thomas Fai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pruntytown, West Virginia
Pruntytown is an unincorporated community at the junction of the Northwestern Turnpike (U.S. Route 50) and U.S. Route 250 in Taylor County, West Virginia, United States. It is the site of the former West Virginia Industrial Home for Boys, now the Pruntytown Correctional Center. History The first settlement at Pruntytown (the earliest known white settlement in what is now Taylor County) was made ''circa'' 1798 with pioneers John Prunty, Sr (1745-1823) and his son David (1768-1841). It was initially known as Cross Roads, from the intersection there of the old Clarksburg Pike and the old Beverly and Fairmont Road. On January 1, 1801 Cross Roads was renamed Williamsport in honor of Abraham Williams, a local resident. The name was changed again on January 23, 1845 to honor the Pruntys. This town served as the county seat from the county's founding in 1844 until a county election in 1878 moved it approximately three miles away, to Grafton. Notable person *John Barton Payne (1855–1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingwood, West Virginia
Kingwood is a city in and the county seat of Preston County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,980 at the 2020 census. It sits within the Allegheny Mountains and is part of the Morgantown metropolitan area. Kingwood is home to Hovatter's Wildlife Zoo, also knows as the West Virginia Zoo. History Kingwood was first settled in 1807 and established by the Virginia General Assembly on January 23, 1811. The town was made the county seat of the new Preston County in 1818 and chartered in 1853. It was named for a grove of tall, stately trees. The James Clark McGrew House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993; the Kingwood Historic District was added in 1994. Geography Kingwood is located at (39.4713, -79.6848). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. It has a warm-summer humid continental climate (''Dfb'') and average monthly temperatures range from 28.7° F in January to 70.2° F in July ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beverly, West Virginia
Beverly is a town in Randolph County, West Virginia, USA. It is the oldest settlement in the Tygart River Valley (1787) and was the county seat for over a century—from 1790 until 1899—after which the nearby settlement of Elkins assumed that role following an intense local political " war". It had a population of 628 at the 2020 census. Geography Beverly is located at (38.850600, -79.867444). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. History The first white settlers in the area that would become Beverly (and in fact in the whole of the Tygart Valley) arrived in 1753 when David Tygart (for whom the valley and river are named) and Robert Files (or Foyle) established cabins at separate choice spots. Although there had been no recent history of conflicts between whites and Indians in that immediate area, that summer a party of Indians traveling the Shawnee Trail discovered the Files cabin and killed seven members of the family. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moorefield, West Virginia
Moorefield is a town and the county seat of Hardy County, West Virginia, United States. It is located at the confluence of the South Branch Potomac River and the South Fork South Branch Potomac River. Moorefield was originally chartered in 1777; it was named for Conrad Moore, who owned the land upon which the town was laid out. The population was 2,527 at the 2020 census. History Moorefield is situated in the South Branch Valley along the South Branch of the Potomac River. Native Americans populated this area for thousands of years. For centuries, they farmed along the river and hunted in the surrounding mountains. The historic Shawnee people, who spoke a Central Algonquian language in the same family as other tribes in their region, occupied this area when Anglo-European settlers began arriving in the early 18th century, attracted by the fertile land. This early settlement was centered on the community of Old Fields, referring to former Native American lands. This is loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appalachian Divide
The Eastern Continental Divide, Eastern Divide or Appalachian Divide is a drainage divide, hydrographic divide in eastern North America that separates the easterly Atlantic Seaboard drainage basin, watershed from the westerly Gulf of Mexico watershed. The divide nearly spans the United States from south of Lake Ontario through the Florida peninsula, and consists of raised terrain including the Appalachian Mountains to the north, the southern Piedmont Plateau and lowland ridges in the Atlantic Coastal Plain to the south. Water including rainfall and snowfall, lakes, streams and rivers on the eastern/southern side of the divide drains to the Atlantic Ocean; water on the western/northern side of the divide drains to the Gulf of Mexico. The ECD is one of six continental hydrographic divides of North America which define several drainage basins, each of which drains to a particular body of water. __TOC__ Course The Eastern Triple divide, Triple Divide is the northern terminus of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending into Marshall County. Wheeling is located about 60 miles (96 km) west of Pittsburgh and is the principal city of the Wheeling metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the metro area had a population of 145,205, and the city itself had a population of 27,062. Wheeling was originally a settlement in the British colony of Virginia, and later the second-largest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. During the American Civil War, Wheeling was the host of the Wheeling Conventions that led to the formation of West Virginia, and it was the first capital of the new state. Due to its location along major transportation routes, including the Ohio River, National Road, and the B&O Railroad, Wheeling became a manufacturing center in the late n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to .... It is the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,076. Located on the Potomac River, Cumberland is a regional business and commercial center for Western Maryland and the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. Historically Cumberland was known as the "Queen City", as it was once the second largest in the state. Because of its strategic location on what became known as the Cumberland Road through the Appalachian Mountains, Appalachians, after the American Revolution it served as a historical outfitting and staging point for westward emigrant trail Human ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Road
The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the Federal Government of the United States, federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac River, Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the Western United States, West for thousands of settlers. When improved in the 1830s, it became the second U.S. road surfaced with the macadam process pioneered by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam. Construction began heading west in 1811 at Cumberland, Maryland, on the Potomac River. After the panic of 1837, Financial Panic of 1837 and the resulting economic depression, congressional funding ran dry and construction was stopped at Vandalia, Illinois, the then-capital of Illinois, northeast of St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis across the Mississippi River. The road has also been referred to as the Cumberland Turnpike, the Cumberland–Brownsville Turnpike (or Road or Pike), the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
