Old Fields 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 ...

on the

South Branch Potomac River The South Branch Potomac River has its headwaters in northwestern Highland County, Virginia near Hightown along the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. After a river distance of ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolu ...

in northern Hardy 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 B ...

, United States. According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

, Old Fields has also been known throughout its history as Indian Old Field, Indian Old Fields, and Oldfields. Also, as "Fort Pleasant," a French and Indian War fort built on the Van Meter land at Old Fields.

History

The community was named for the fact the original town site was an

Indian old field Indian Old Field, or simply Old Field, was a common term used in Colonial American times and up until the early nineteenth century United States, by American explorers, surveyors, cartographers and settlers, in reference to land formerly cleared a ...

. Other buildings of interest in the vicinity include Old Fields Church (1812; the second-oldest church in West Virginia), Fort Pleasant, the Isaac Van.Meter House built in the 1810's, the Garrett Van Meter House (1835), Willow Wall (1812),

Buena Vista Buena Vista, meaning "good view" in Spanish, may refer to: Places Canada *Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, with the name being originally derived from “Buena Vista” *Buena Vista, Saskatchewan *Buena Vista, Saskatoon, a neighborhood in ...

(1836), built for William T. Van Meter (killed in Gen. Wade Hampton’s “ Beefsteak Raid” behind Union lines near

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

, in 1864), Traveler’s Rest (1856; constructed for Garrett Van Meter’s three unmarried sisters: Ann, Rebecca, and Susan), and the Peter Casey house, where George Washington spent the night as a boy on his surveying trip for Lord Fairfax in 1748.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Hardy County, West Virginia Populated places on the South Branch Potomac River Unincorporated communities in West Virginia