Castle Rock is a geological feature located in

Pineville, West Virginia Pineville is a town in and the county seat of Wyoming County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Guyandotte River. The population was 648 at the 2020 census. History Pineville was settled by William Short in 1853. In 1863, Hiram ...

, USA. Castle Rock stands next to the Pineville Public Library. Named for its resemblance to a castle, it rises about 200 feet above Rock Castle Creek, a branch of the

Guyandotte River The Guyandotte River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 166 mi (267 km) long, in southwestern West Virginia in the United States. It was named after the French term for the Wendat Native Americans. It drains an area of ...

. Its base is estimated to be 100 feet in diameter. Midway up there is a stone terrace, with a narrower

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

formation rising out of it. The shale formation is approximately 20.23 feet in diameter at its base, and between 25 and 30 feet at the top.Wells, C.D. (1889). ''Something About Wyoming County West Virginia.'' pp. 15-16. The strata of which Castle Rock consists were laid down about 200 million years ago.Shrewsbury, Mark (2001). "Castle Rock". Sign. Over time water eroded away the surrounding rock creating its distinctive shape. Castle Rock was known to early explores of the area simply as the "castle". At one time ladders provided access to the top of the rock, but they were removed in 1911, after a man named Virgil Senter fell to his death. Wyoming County Genealogical Society (1995). ''Wyoming County Heritage.'' p. 4. LCCN 96-060088 Steps and hand rails leading to the terrace were added later. In 2001 a sign explaining how the rock was formed was placed in front of Castle Rock.

References

{{coord, 37, 34, 57.0, N, 81, 32, 19.4, W, type:landmark_region:US-WV, display=title Rock formations of West Virginia Landforms of Wyoming County, West Virginia