Big Bend (shown as Bigbend on federal maps) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Calhoun 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. It lies along

West Virginia Route 5 West Virginia Route 5 is an east–west state highway located in northwest West Virginia. The western terminus is at West Virginia Route 14 in Elizabeth, West Virginia, Elizabeth, Wirt County, West Virginia, Wirt County. The eastern terminu ...

northwest of the town of Grantsville, 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 Calhoun County, along the

Little Kanawha River The Little Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 169 mi (269 km) long,Gilchrist-Stalnaker, Joy Gregoire. 2006. "Little Kanawha River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Vir ...

. Its elevation is 682 feet (208 m). It has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with the ZIP code 26136. Big Bend was previously known as Brooksville, in honor of

Preston Brooks Preston Smith Brooks (August 5, 1819 – January 27, 1857) was an American slaver, politician, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina, serving as a member of the Democratic Party from 1853 until his resignation i ...

, pro-slavery representative from South Carolina, who attacked and seriously injured Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner. At that time it was the county seat. At the end of the Civil War, and West Virginia's separation from Virginia, it was replaced by a new county seat with the name of Union General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Calhoun County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Populated places on the Little Kanawha River {{CalhounCountyWV-geo-stub