Cottageville (also Moores Mill, Rhodess Mill, or Wrights Mill) 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 ...

in western Jackson County,

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. It lies along

West Virginia Route 331 West Virginia Route 331 (WV 331) is an east–west state highway located entirely in Jackson County, West Virginia. The western terminus of the route is at West Virginia Route 2 and West Virginia Route 62 in Mount Alto. The eastern terminus ...

northwest of the city of Ripley, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Jackson County. Established in 1858, its elevation is 594 feet (181 m). Although Cottageville is unincorporated, it has 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 ...

, with the ZIP code of 25239.Zip Code Lookup
It also is the site of the annual Jackson County Junior Fair. Michael Coleman, a well known early Indian fighter, was killed and buried in the area, according to a historical marker placed by the state of WV. The wooden Grist Mill located here since the 1840s burned to the ground in the summer of 1965. Its foundation stones remain. It had remained in operation full-time until 1930, part-time until 1937. Cottageville was a commercial center with a bank, newspaper, tannery, blacksmith, several stores, a railroad station on the B & O and many other businesses in the early part of the twentieth century. Its heyday faded with the closing of the mill and the improvement of roads in the county. The B & O pulled up its tracks to the county seat, Ripley, in the mid-nineteen-sixties. Less than a mile from the old town, the county operated what folks called the "poor farm," an early version of a welfare commune. That closed in the thirties with the New Deal. That land is now the Jackson County Junior Fairgrounds.

References

Unincorporated communities in Jackson County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Populated places established in 1858 1858 establishments in Virginia {{JacksonCountyWV-geo-stub