Beverly is a town in Randolph County,

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, United States. Founded in 1787, it is the oldest settlement in the Tygart River Valley. It had a population of 628 at the 2020 census. Beverly was the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Randolph County for over a century—from 1790 until 1899—after which the nearby settlement of Elkins assumed that role following an intense local political " war".

History

The first white settlers in the area that would become Beverly (and in fact in the whole of the

Tygart Valley The Tygart Valley River — also known as the Tygart River — is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed ...

) 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. One son escaped and alerted the Tygart family, allowing all to escape. Thereafter, no other white settlement was attempted in present Randolph County until 1772. On May 29, 1787, officers of the newly established Randolph County authorized local settler and landowner James Westfall, Sr (1747–1800) to plat out a town to accommodate a new county seat. The settlement was at first named Edmundton to further honor the namesake of the new county—Virginia Governor

Edmund Randolph Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 September 12, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, and the seventh Governor of Virginia. As a delegate from Virginia, he attended the Constitutional Convention and helped to cre ...

. In December 1790, however, the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

officially established the town as “Beverley”. By this time, Randolph's first cousin (once removed), Beverley Randolph, was governor and the town was accordingly renamed for him. (Apparently, without discussion, the third “e” was soon dropped from the name, and "Beverly" has been the conventional spelling ever since.)Chambers (2012), ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'' The Assembly directed the citizens to erect “a dwelling house sixteen feet square with a brick or stone chimney.” The first houses, along with a courthouse, jail, and school, were all of the characteristic single-pen log structure. Randolph County was at this time much larger than today, encompassing all of present-day Tucker County, and parts of present-day Preston, Barbour, Upshur, Lewis, Braxton, Nicholas, Webster, and Pocahontas Counties. Jacob Westfall (1761–1801), first cousin once removed of James Westfall, received permission in 1794 to erect a sawmill near the town. Soon frame houses had joined the original log structures. After the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike arrived (1841), the town developed rapidly as a regional center for transportation and trading. Both sides occupied Beverly at various times during the American Civil War (1861–65) and various buildings were pressed into service as hospitals or quarters. In January 1865 Confederate General

Thomas L. Rosser Thomas Lafayette "Tex" Rosser (October 15, 1836 – March 29, 1910) was a Confederate major general during the American Civil War, and later a railroad construction engineer and in 1898 a brigadier general of volunteers in the United States A ...

took 300 men, crossed the Allegheny Mountains to Beverly in deep snow and bitter cold and surprised and captured two Union infantry regiments in their works there. Some 580 prisoners were taken. (Most of the men in Rosser's command were recruits from estVirginia.) Rosser's troops partially burnt the Beverly Covered Bridge (built 1846–47), the earliest of Lemuel Chenoweth's celebrated wooden

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

s, but Chenoweth rebuilt it in 1872 and '73. Beverly lost its preeminence as county seat in 1899 to the rapidly developing railroad and timbering center of Elkins. In 1980 the entire town was entered on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as a historic district. Today, a number of Beverly’s more historic structures have been restored.

Geography

Beverly is located at (38.850600, -79.867444). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , all land.

Climate

This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Beverly has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Beverly, West Virginia
/ref>

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 702 people, 323 households, and 199 families living in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 360 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.0%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.1%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, and 1.4% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.3% of the population. There were 323 households, of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 21.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.4% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.75. The median age in the town was 40.5 years. 24.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.5% were from 25 to 44; 27.5% were from 45 to 64; and 17.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 46.6% male and 53.4% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 651 people, 285 households, and 190 families living in the town. The

was 1,473.4 inhabitants per square mile (571.3/km²). There were 313 housing units at an average density of 708.4 per square mile (274.7/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.77%

, 0.31% Native American, 0.46% Asian, and 0.46% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.08% of the population. There were 285 households, out of which 36.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were married couples living together, 19.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 28.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.71. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.4% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $21,875, and the median income for a family was $24,722. Males had a median income of $25,714 versus $16,250 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $15,620. About 27.4% of families and 31.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 40.0% of those under age 18 and 34.7% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

History and buildings of Beverly

Battle of Rich Mountain
fought just west of Beverly {{Authority control Towns in Randolph County, West Virginia Former county seats in West Virginia Towns in West Virginia Populated places on the Tygart Valley River