Jerome is an uninhabited community along the old

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

main line in Morgan County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. It is located entirely within the

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is located in the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland. The park was established in 1961 as a National Monument by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to preserve the neglected remains o ...

on the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

. Jerome is also the site of a stretch of the

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was a small American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in 3 Southern United States, Southern US States, Maryland (Western Maryland, Western Region), West Virginia (Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, Easte ...

right-of-way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

from milepost 126 to milepost 160 listed 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 ...

. Located in the "Paw Paw Bends", Jerome was considered to be one of the most inaccessible places reached by the Western Maryland Rwy. At Jerome, the train order office was in use until it was closed on September 1, 1959. When it was abandoned by the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated u ...

in May 1975, the office was not torn down and is one of the few buildings that remain today in Jerome. There was also an operating connection with the B&O "low line" (''see

Magnolia, West Virginia Magnolia is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community northeast of Paw Paw, West Virginia, Paw Paw in Morgan County, West Virginia, Morgan County in the U.S. state of West Virginia on the Potomac River. Magnolia is located along the Balti ...

'') at milepost 137 but it was later removed when the B&O abandoned the low line in 1961. The community and its station on the railroad are rumored to have been named for

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), Kingdom of Westphalia, King of Westphal ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Morgan County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Western Maryland Railway West Virginia populated places on the Potomac River {{MorganCountyWV-geo-stub