Scrabble 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 Berkeley 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. 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 ...

, the community has been known as Hard Scrabble, Hard Scrabble Town, and Hardscrabble throughout its history. The community most likely was so named on account of treacherous local terrain.

Scrabble Historic District

Scrabble was 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 ...

in 2006, with the district extending into Jefferson County. The historic district comprises of late 19th century buildings mixed with agricultural lands. The most prominent structures are the 1920 Mount Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church and the 1882 Scrabble School. A number of contemporary

I-house The I-house is a vernacular architecture, vernacular house type, popular in the United States from the colonial period onward. The I-house was so named in the 1930s by Fred Kniffen, a cultural geographer at Louisiana State University who was a sp ...

s and smaller vernacular houses complete the district. The individually listed George Washington Hollida House is also in the district. The district lies primarily on Scrabble Road and Dam No. 4 Road in Berkeley County, and Silver Spring Road in Jefferson County. The county line is marked by Rocky Marsh Run, which runs through the community.

References

Unincorporated communities in Berkeley County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Historic districts in Berkeley County, West Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley County, West Virginia I-house architecture in West Virginia Vernacular architecture in West Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Houses in Berkeley County, West Virginia {{BerkeleyCountyWV-geo-stub