Welcome to
Historic Hampshire County,
West Virginia
A Beautiful and Historic Land
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Hampshire County
Lying just to the west of the great Valley of Virginia, Hampshire County, West Virginia has a rich and varied history. Once home to numerous tribes of prehistoric native Americans, the area was nearly empty and used only for a seasonal hunting ground when the white man first arrived. The fertile valleys of Hampshire's Potomac River tributaries were a welcome sight to the early settlers who longed for verdant, open spaces to satisfy their independent spirit.
Colonial Era
Sometime in the 1730s and 1740s the trickle of explorers and settlers began. The migration was primarily from Pennsylvania rather than from the piedmont of Virginia.
County Established
In 1754, the opening year of the French and Indian War, Hampshire County was established with over twenty-six hundred square miles. It was the western frontier of the Colony of Virginia. Because Virginia's route to the upper Ohio River valley came through Hampshire County, the area became an important gateway to the developing west.
French and Indian War
During the trying years of the French and Indian War, Hampshire bore the brunt
of enemy attacks. Although Virginia was a long way from Canada, the
French know that Virginia was one of the wealthiest and most populous Colonies
and a leader in the push for British expansion to the west. It was
because of this that Col. George Washington, Commander of the Virginia
Regiment, built
a chain of forts in Hampshire County as the northern bulwarks of his western line of
defense. Col. Washington was familiar with the area, having traversed it
for five seasons as a surveyor for
Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of the Northern Neck Proprietary.During the terrible days of the first half of the French and Indian War, many
settlers fled to more peaceful areas; many who stayed died on their farms at
the hands of ravaging warriors. Before the fall of Fort Duquesne to Gen. Forbes
in 1758, much of Hampshire County was devoid of people. After the war,
the pace of settlement increased. In 1762
Romney was incorporated as the county seat. In 1787 Watson (later named Capon Springs)
was incorporated at the medicinal springs in the south-east part of the county.
Transportation Routes Established
In 1786 a state road had been completed from Winchester to Romney. As the frontier of the new nation moved westward, more roads were required to serve the expanding nation. In the 1830s the Northwestern Turnpike was built, eventually running from Winchester through Romney to Clarksburg and on to Parkersburg on the Ohio River. By 1845 a stage line ran from Romney to Morgantown and Parkersburg.
Civil War
The far western counties of Virginia were developing as industrial centers along the Ohio Rivers, but Hampshire and its neighboring counties remained rural, agricultural areas. It was during the war that Virginia was split, and Hampshire County became part of the new state of West Virginia. Hampshire's placement in the new state was a matter of Federal politics and did not reflect the sentiments of the people of the county.
Confederate Sympathies
Counties to the west had ties to the North by way of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the C&O canal; they had little in common with the commerce and government of Virginia. Hampshire County, on the other hand, was linked more to the Shenandoah Valley, and Hampshire's colonial heritage gave it stronger ties with the Commonwealth. Therefore, its sympathies were Southern. "Stonewall" Jackson had an early compaign in the County that attempted to cut the Federal government's transportation link to the western states that ran along the Potomac River, Hampshire's northern boundary. Because of this strategic location there were many troop movements through the county and Romney is said to have changed hands 56 times during the war.
Hampshire County raised thirteen Confederate companies for the war but only one
Union company. After the Civil War on Sept. 26, 1867, Hampshire's
citizens dedicated what was perhaps the
first
Memorial raised to Civil War dead of a Southern community. It still stands today in Indian Mound Cemetery in Romney.
Modern Era
The fact that Indian Mound Cemetery is the burial site of two West Virginia governors (John J. Jacob - 4th Governor; John J. Cornwell - 15th Governor) evidences the county's involvement in the new State's political life.
Natural Beauty
Hampshire County has great natural beauty. Although the area is not now as bountiful for the hunter as was true in George Washington's day, Hampshire has always been an abundant land. The rivers are wonderful for swimming, and they abound with fish. The skies above are filled with wildfowl. The Trough, a cut that the South Branch River makes through the mountains, is one of the best locations for spotting the majestic bald eagle. The Potomac Eagle, a sightseeing passenger train, runs from spring through fall so tourists may view the breath-taking scenery and the eagles.
The several communities with "Spring" in their name give a hint to another natural treasure of the area known to early settlers. Even today, Capon Springs resort is renowned for its lovely wooded setting and its wonderful hospitality. Ice Mountain on the North River is a geologic anomaly with rare flora near its ice caves. Today it is maintained by the Nature Conservancy. Throughout the county there are fields, streams and mountains that offer a feast for the eyes and for the spirit.
Romney, where the first Literary Society in the state was founded in 1819, is home to the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Hampshire County is a land mindful of its colonial heritage and the precious traits of character that made it strong. It is a place where the visitor will be made to feel welcome.
Hampshire County Screensavers - large, high def photos (1920x1024
Save our Dark Night Sky - the County Comprehensive Plan is up for its review/reassessment so now is the time to get involved in saving our Dark Night Sky. This is the first step to notify the Planning Commission that it is a priority and needs to be included in the building code!
Our new database search project: Hampshire Database includes Sims Index of Land Grants, Survey Books A-E and Indian Mound Cemetery. Now working!
Searching this Web SiteRegular Word Searches:Please use Google Search or Startpage to find items on this web site. To search this site only after the search words you want to find enter "site:historichampshire.org" without the quotes. Google will then search only this site. |
History:
Old Published Histories:
West Virginia Geological Survey
Northwestern Turnpike
Eighteenth Century:
Our English Roots Lord Fairfax, Hampshire Co. & New Romney
Romney article
Settlement and French and Indian War:
Fort Edwards Web Site
Foreman's Defeat, 1777
Revolutionary War Soldiers
Gazetteer of 1797
Surveys of George Washington
The Founding of Romney
First Deeds for Romney Lots and Early Plat
Researching Early Deeds and Grants
Gunsmiths of Hampshire County extends into 19th century
Nineteenth Century:
Antebellum Romney by Rob Wolford
Early Roads of Hampshire County from Maxwell & Swisher
Civil War
Civil War Sesquicentennial Project - has additional links
Romney in the Civil War
Location & Approaches to Romney
The capture of Generals Crook and Kelly in Cumberland, Md.
First hand description of Romney at the end of the War
&
McNeil's Rangers' Surrender - Samuel Clarke Farrar Diary
B&O Railroad in the Civil War
Civil War Engravings
Hampshire's Civil War Soldiers:
Hampshire's Confederate Soldiers -
Company A, 33rd Va. Inf.
Company D, 17th Va. Batt. Cav. -
Enos Taylor P.O.W. buried in Illinois
Civil War Memorials:
History of the Soldiers Monument
Confederate Veteran Magazine Article
First Decoration Day, 1866 from the The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
Project to Preserve the Civil War Memorial Site
Reunion at Camp Walker
150th anniversary of Decoration Day 2016
150th anniversary of the Confederate Soldiers Monument 2017
Modern Articles on the Civil War
Community Defiled, Sacking the Courthouse by Robert B. Wolford
Twentieth Century:
Citizens who died in World War I
Armistice Centennial Celebration - a WWI archived page
For WWI Doughboy statue articles see Reprints from the Hampshire Review below
Citizens who served and those who died in WWII
Veterans of Korea -Coming
Veterans of Vietnam
Folks We Remember - people of note in community
Military Veterans of Hampshire County
Click for archived Calendar page of our WWI Armistice 100th Anniversary Commemoration
Community History Articles, Publications & Videos
Catalogue of the Members and Library of The Literary Society of Romney NEW
H.C. Historical Society Newsletters, archive of discontinued newsletter
Index of Historical Society Newsletters
Notes on the History of Springfield by Mrs. Heiskel
History of Capon Bridge by Gertrude Ward NEW
Notes on History and Roads of Capon Bridge (working notes)
Bloomery Furnace & Village by Rob Wolford
Crossing the South Branch in Hampshire County by Eph Herriott, Jr.,
A History of our Bridges
Romney-Springfield Roads by Eph Herriott
Community Defiled, Sacking the Courthouse by Robert B. Wolford
The Old Northwestern Turnpike by Leonora Wood. This is wonderful travelogue along Rt. 50 through Hampshire and Mineral County. Although some of the description is dated, it still is a good guide to thing to see. From The Hampshire Review
Romney on the Menu videos by Ken Caldwell
Indexes of Published Books about Hampshire Co. - (unfinished)
African-American History
Black Veterans, Alfred Whiting, Jacob Green, Colored Benevolent Cemetery, etc.
Community, Fraternal and Social Organizations
Hopefully new section dealing with locations and activities of organizations. This section is in need of community support. Please send photos and information on sites and activities of our fraternal, social and community organization sites. We are interested in items over 50 years old.
School History Articles
Schools of Hampshire County - work in progress; please send corrections
History of Romney Schools by Leona McDonald NEW
Sandy Hollow School
Old Kirby School buildings
Schools for the Deaf and Blind
The Background, Foundation and Early History Of The West Virginia Schools For The Deaf And Blind short pdf edited for web by Dan Oates
Soil Surveys of Hampshire County
Tidbits of History- Some interesting facts
Timeline of County History
Hampshire's 250th Anniversary (site archive)
Anniversary Events Web Archive
Important (Lost) Artifacts
Hampshire250 - Reflections on the Celebration
Petition to Change the Form of Hampshire County Government
The long struggle of the citizens of Hampshire County to have a petition placed
on the ballot to allow a change from a 3 person Commission to a "Tribunal"
composed of one representitive from each district has ended unsuccessfully. To
learn about the process, click here for the
Petition Documents Archive.
Places, Buildings, Views:
Scenic Tour:
Buildings
Countryside
North River Mills (This page has the link to North River Mills Day.)
Romney, the county seat (see also History above)
Fall scenes
Ice Mountain
Caudy's Castle Rock
Capon Bridge Museum
Capon Bridge GPS survey benchmark at 813.5 feet elevation
New Buildings
New Buildings, New Structures Click for index page
National Register of Historic Places
Named Sites, Bridges, Roads, etc. (Memorials)
Old Roads of Hampshire County
Personal Items from from the South Branch Intelligencer 1867-1879 and the Hampshire Review 1884-1886 by Cheryl Singhal, word searchable Archive of Yesterday's Review and Hampshire History two publications reprinting articles from earlier county newspapers Reprints from our local newspapers including the South Branch Intelligencer, The Hampshire Review and The Argus Advocate Newspaper Subjects Index Offsite link to the Potomac State Local Newspaper Project. This web archive contains the Hampshire Review and South Branch Intelligencer and newspapers from surrounding counties and can be word searched. See also section "Community History Articles, Publications & Videos" above. Survey Books A & B NEW Updated Hampshire Co. Historic Landmarks Commission Minutes, Documents, etc. (HCHLC) John W. Mellon Undertaker's Journal for Capon Bridge area. [Dan Oates] Keller Hotel Register listing visitors Old Pine Church update coming! Little Cacapon Primative Baptist Old Salem Church (torn down) We invite churches to submit a short, general history particularly as it relates to buildings and community events in Hampshire County! We are not interested in histories of congregations although we may archive church baptism and marriage records.
Whipple Truss Bridge at Capon Springs Nominated for the N.R.H.P.
Sites on the
National Register of Historic Places
County buildings on the WV
Historic Property Inventory Form
road naming, bridge naming for historic areas, events or people
The Frenchburg Bridge - Civil War Memorial
The Private Wm. Kump Bridge - Civil War Memorial (large pdf)
The North River Mills Trace - Colonial Era Memorial (large pdf)
Gunsmiths' Trace at Edwards Run New
Location & Approaches to Romney from a Civil War report
Draft Notes on History of Capon Bridge - working project
See also "Maps" below
Newspaper Items
County & Private Records: Surveys, Wills, Deeds, Journals, Registers, etc.
Agriculture, Orchards and Industries
- Fruit, gunsmiths, mills, hatchery, dairy, railroad, etc.
Churches of Hampshire County
List of old church buildings, work in progress; please help!
Methodist Church records a limited collection.
Post Offices of Hampshire County- a history by Len McMaster
North River Mills.org- a quaint and historic village
Sites & Buildings:
Restored, Re-used, Waiting, Neglected or Gone
Restoration Projects
Restoration Projects
Ridgedale Restoration - George W. Washington house
the old log house at Ridgedale - the first home of the Washington family
Heflebower mansion
WVSDB Dairy Barn in Romney
Log house on Falls Rd. - want a restoration project?? Awaiting help!
Destroyed Buildings
Destroyed Places also and ones now Gone - Landmarks that have passed
Salvaging the Baker's Old Barn in North River Mills Old Hampshire Memorial Hospital mitigation project
Bridges of 1940 - most gone Neglected Places - Buildings or sites which desperately need preservation or they will disappear.
WV Historic Property Forms for Romney - New Preservation Districts
Nature's Wonders
Interesting Things, Unusual Wonders
For Place Names see Gazetteer below
West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind Main Building - the Administration Building was originally the Classical Institute of 1847
Mytinger-Flournoy house on East Main St. in Romney
Hooks Tavern east of Capon Bridge
Romney
Finding aid for Romney subjects
Romney's Historic District-?? - preserving W. Va.'s oldest town
Specimen Trees
Nature's Interesting, beautiful and unique
Tree identification from USDA
Rio's Giant Turtle
People:
Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax
People in the Civil War
Military Veterans
See also Reprints from the Hampshire Review above
Gov. Cornwell short family movie clip
Walter Crabtree hanged for murder
Maps:
Modern Maps (since 1920):
1937 Road Map of the County pdf file of 3.5mb large!
1926 Topographic Map of Hampshire County, jpg 1.8mb NEW
Road map of Hampshire County (without road names) to print on 8.5x11 inch paper. This is a pdf file that prints in landscape mode. File size is approx. 312 Kbytes.
The following two maps are basic maps that can be printed on 8.5x11 inch paper:
Modern County Map (small 100dpi)
Modern County Map (large 300dpi)
The next map is quite detailed and quite large. It is 2388 pixels wide by 2316 wide; it is hardly viewable if printed on 8.5x11 inch paper, but can be enlarged to approximately 24 inches square.
Hampshire County map with most roads
John R. Ice County Map 1933 - top
John R. Ice County Map 1933 - bottom
This is the last road map of the county published before the 1939 Highway map when the State took over the road system. These are .jpg files you can either download by right-clicking on them and saving to your hard drive or you may view them in your browser. They are large files of approximately 450 megs.
Hampshire County Road Map is available from the State in .pdf format divided as north and south sheets: (Note: Hampshire County is going through road name changes in connection with a 911 Addressing System so this map may not be current.)
Wayne McGahuey's Cemetery Maps of Hampshire County
Potomac Heritage Trail Map (draft for study purposes - 2.6 megs)
Historic Maps & Interpretive Maps:
Hampshire's Boundary over time
Two Important Colonial Roads - The Great Wagon Road and Braddock's Road
Maps of Gen. Braddock's campaign through Hampshire Co. to Ft. Duquesne - on our associated site: www.BraddocksMarch.org
Relief Maps of Some Forts of the French and Indian War
Mill Sites c. 1859 (medium file)
Planned Route of the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad
Hampshire County, no date large file
Hampshire County, Rand-McNally 1889 large file
Hampshire County New Commercial Atlas of West Virginia, no date; large file
Hampshire County, 1897 Century Atlas, large file
Hampshire County in 1888 (medium file)
Hampshire County in 1880 (medium file)
Schools of Hampshire County - work in progress; please send corrections
See also Cemetery section below
For Romney Maps see Romney Finding Aid
B&O Railroad Maps
Romney B&O RR Depot 1928Romney B&O RR Depot 1931 Sanborn map
Romney B&O RR Depot 1932 railroad plan with turn-around "Y"
Romney B&O RR Junction with main line
Colonial Era Maps, Fairfax Land Grants
Capon Bridge (southeast) Land Grants
Capon Bridge (southwest) Land Grants
Romney area Land Grants (North) NEW
Romney area Land Grants (South) NEW
Several colonial era interpretative maps relating to Hampshire County are available from the Museum Shop of The Fort Edwards Foundation.
Crozet's Northwestern Turnpike Map 1831
Easter part of Hampshire County
Western part of Hampshire County
Civil War Maps
Upper Potomac area based on Lt. Meigs
Civil War Era Map of County (large file)
B&O Railroad in the Civil War (large file)
Gen. Lander's Map, Feb. 1862
Gazetteer:
Place names in Hampshire County
Places whose location is now "unknown"- from USGS Gazetteer
USGS Benchmarks
Old Photographs
H.C. Groups, organizations, activities soldiers, musicians, etc.
Industry, work, business, livestock, transportation
Animals- transportation, livestock, horses, etc.
Industries, job sites, work, business, etc.
Who, What, Where???? - please help us!
Civil War Engravings
Cemeteries:
Cemetery Inventory Main Page including sites compiled from Wayne McGahuey's list, from Ralph Tripplett's work and Vicki Horton's sites from Springfield area with other additions from sources contributed to the Hampshire County Library. Wayne McGahuey's Cemetery Maps of Hampshire County W.P.A. Depression era research project listing
Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery Cemeteries of Romney from Maxwell & Swisher, (pdf) Mt. Pisgah Benevolent Cemetery just outside Romney Cemetery Survey Template and Explanation GPS locations sorted by Latitude - DRAFT
location with maps of all veteran's cemeteries - (uses 1930s road names)
2016 Cemetery Survey Project
In 2016 the Hampshire County Historic Landmarks Commission received a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office to survey the cemeteries of the county. This project located and mapped 153 cemeteries. The list can be found by Clicking Here.Cemeteries from our web list that have a latitude-longitude shown. This list is supposed to be sorted in Latitude order to help you find the name if you find a cemetery with your GPS unit. This list may or may not include cemeteries listed in the 2016 Cemetery Survey Project.
Research & Resources:
Bibliography for Hampshire County
References in Official Records of the Civil War - work in progress
Important & Interesting Hampshire County Deeds
Chapter Index of History of Hampshire County by Maxwell & Swisher
Resources at other West Virginia location
Resources at the WV State Archives in Charleston, WV (.pdf format)
Manuscripts & microfilm at West Virginia University
Manuscripts, etc. at Various Repositories
Potomac State College Newspaper Archive of Hampshire Review and South Branch Intelligencer and surrounding local newspapers
West Virginia Historic Property Inventory Form for sites inventory use
Library of Virginia Resources
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grant and Surveys
County Events:
We can not keep up with events, so please visit the Convention and Visitors' Bureau web site.
Past Events
1999 Bicentennial of George Washington's Death newspaper clippings
Anniversary of Women's Suffrage celebrated in 2020
Other Subjects:
Web links, Places to Go, Things to Do
Timeline for Hampshire County - important facts
Tidbits of History- Some interesting facts
Application information for the National Register of Historic Places
Restoring the Stone House in Mineral County
About this page's sponsor: N.R.M.S.A.A.D.K.
Contact Us (if you can)!
Miscellaneous
Old Images & Ornaments & Portraits - Portraits of famous people, places and events in American history - Free, Public Domain *Updated & Interesting*
Examples of large graphic murals highlighting history or scenery from other places.
Sun bonnet pattern - full size; right click to download. Take to a quick printer that does blueprints and get approximate 36 inch square pattern.
Old Images of Religious Sites and Icons
This is a never-ending, always-updating project. If you or your organization would like to contribute a page to this site, we would be happy to correspond with you. We are looking for all the help we can get. It tooks thousands of people to originally write the history of Hampshire County; it is going to take more than a few to publish it. Please email corrections and/or suggestions and/or additions to:
