Potomac Highlands of West Virginia

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The Potomac Highlands of West Virginia are the root of the Eastern Panhandle, bordering Maryland and Virginia. They comprise the following counties:

Because of geographical proximity and shared culture and history, the Potomac Highlands region is extended to include Pocahontas, Randolph, and Tucker counties, even though they are not within the Potomac River watershed.

Contents

[edit] County information

County Named For Founded Seat
Grant Ulysses Simpson Grant February 14, 1866 Petersburg
Hampshire Hampshire County, England December 13, 1753 Romney
Hardy Samuel Hardy December 10, 1785 Moorefield
Mineral minerals located in the county February 1, 1866 Keyser
Pendleton Edmund Pendleton December 4, 1787 Franklin
Pocahontas Pocahontas of the Powhatan Native American people 1821 Marlinton
Randolph Edmund Jennings Randolph 1787 Elkins
Tucker Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. 1856 Parsons

[edit] Largest cities

City 2005 (estimate) 2000 County
Elkins 7,109 7,032 Randolph
Keyser 5,410 5,303 Mineral
Petersburg 2,634 2,423 Grant
Moorefield 2,408 2,375 Hardy
Romney 1,975 1,940 Hampshire
Parsons 1,400 1,463 Tucker
Marlinton 1,247 1,204 Pocahontas

[edit] Potomac Highlands trivia

  • The Potomac Highlands includes West Virginia's oldest town (1762) of Romney.
  • The Potomac Highlands also includes West Virginia's oldest county: Hampshire (1753).
  • West Virginia's highest elevation above sea level is located in the Potomac Highlands in Pendleton County: Spruce Knob, 4,863 feet (1,482 meters).
  • Shortly after West Virginia gained statehood, Mineral and Grant counties were created from Hampshire and Hardy in 1866.

[edit] References

Smith, J. Lawrence, The Potomac Naturalist: The Natural History of the Headwaters of the Historic Potomac (1968), Parsons, West Virginia, McClain Printing Company; ISBN-10: 0870120239; ISBN-13: 978-0870120237

[edit] External links


Potomac River system
Cities and towns | Bridges | Islands | Tributaries | Variant names
District of Columbia | Maryland | Pennsylvania | Virginia | West Virginia
Streams shown as: Major tributaries • subtributaries • (subsubtributaries) • (subsubsubtributaries)