Clayton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Summers County Summers County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,959. Its county seat is Hinton. The county was created by an act of the West Virginia Legislature on February 27, 1871, from pa ...

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 Bur ...

, United States. The community was first settled in 1813. Clayton once had a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, which opened in 1879 and closed in 1959.

Geography

Clayton is located at . It is situated in the

Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending ...

and has an elevation of . It is south of Keeney Knob, the tallest mountain in Summers County at . Other nearby mountains include Dempsey Mountain and Red Spring Mountain. Clayton is located on the Righthand Fork of Hungart's Creek, a branch of the

Greenbrier River The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River, long,McNeel, William P. "Greenbrier River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. 2006. . in southeastern West Virginia ...

. The nearest post office to Clayton is located in Pence Springs, which is south of Clayton and has ZIP code 24962. The nearest incorporated town is Alderson, in neighboring Greenbrier and Monroe Counties, which is east of Clayton. Clayton is east-northeast of Hinton, the county seat of Summers County.

History

The first land grant in Clayton was made in 1786 to Colonel James Graham of Lowell. The first settlers in Clayton were Joseph Graham and his family, who settled at Clayton in 1813. Graham soon built a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

in the community, the first in the surrounding area. The community earned its name in 1835, when

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

balloonist In aeronautics, a balloon is an unpowered aerostat, which remains aloft or floats due to its buoyancy. A balloon may be free, moving with the wind, or tethered to a fixed point. It is distinct from an airship, which is a powered aerostat that ...

Richard Clayton landed near the community after a , 9.5-hour flight; his flight set United States records for ballooning, and he stayed in the community for three days to see local visitors. A church which also served as a school was built in Clayton in the 1850s. The first settlers of Clayton practiced an agricultural lifestyle, but

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

became a prominent industry after the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

opened a branch near the community. Clayton's

opened on November 3, 1879 on the site of Joseph Graham's home; the original postmaster was David Graham Ballengee. A new post office building was built in 1892. David Graham Ballengee served as postmaster until 1939; his 59-year tenure as postmaster made him the tenth-longest-serving postmaster in United States history. Ballengee was succeeded as postmaster by his son, Homer Ballengee, who served as postmaster until the post office closed on March 31, 1959.Robinson, p. 118.

Transportation

Clayton is served by two main county highways, Summers County Route 6 and Summers County Route 7. It is also served by several fractional county highways: Summers County Route 6/1, Summers County Route 7/11, Summers County Route 7/12, and Summers County Route 7/13. The nearest state highways to Clayton are

West Virginia Route 3 West Virginia Route 3 is a state highway in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It runs from West Virginia Route 10 in West Hamlin in a general easterly direction via Beckley to West Virginia Route 311 at Sweet Springs, most of the way across t ...

and

West Virginia Route 12 West Virginia Route 12 (WV 12) is a north–south route located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of West Virginia. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 219 in Peterstown, Monroe County, less than from the Virginia s ...

which run

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

to the south and east of Clayton. The nearest interstate highway to Clayton is

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange w ...

, which has exits in

Sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and Green Sulphur Springs to the northwest of Clayton. The nearest rail line to Clayton is a

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

line which runs through Pence Springs. This line also carries

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

service; its nearest stop to Clayton is in Alderson.

References

{{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Summers County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia