Old Fields 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 ...

on the

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

in northern

Hardy County Hardy County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,299. Its county seat is Moorefield. The county was created from Hampshire County in 1786 and named for Samuel Hardy, a distinguished Vi ...

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. According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

, 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. 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 (1836), built for William T. Van Meter (killed in Gen. Wade Hampton’s “

Beefsteak Raid The Beefsteak Raid was a Confederate cavalry raid that took place in September 1864 as part of the Siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War. Confederate Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton led a force of 3,000 troopers of the Confederate States Army ...

” 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 with a majority bla ...

, 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