Morgan County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,063. Its county seat is Berkeley Springs. The county was formed in 1820 from parts of Hampshire and Berkeley Counties and named in honor of General Daniel Morgan, prominent soldier of the American Revolutionary War. The county and town of Bath are considered an excellent jumping off point for exploring the Potomac and Cacapon Rivers valleys just to the north and west. Along with also being a tourist destination hosting numerous local artists, mineral water spas, and a large amount of outdoor recreation that includes fishing, boating, wildlife, hunting, and mountain scenery. The region is known for the famed Apple Butter Festival held annually in October. Morgan County is also the home of an important silica mine, part of U.S. Silica.
Hedgesville is a town in Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States, in the state's Eastern Panhandle region. The population was 318 at the 2010 census. The town sits on WV 9, and is roughly 13 miles east of Berkeley Springs. In addition to its legal definition, Hedgesville has come to be the common name for the large and sparsely inhabited area of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle bordered by the Potomac River to the North and East, a southern border defined roughly by an imaginary line from the city of Martinsburg to the tip of Virginia, and Berkeley Springs to the West.
Berkeley Springs is a town in, and the county seat of, Morgan County, West Virginia, United States, in the state's Eastern Panhandle. Berkeley Springs is also commonly used to refer to the area in and around the Town of Bath. In 1776, the Virginia Legislature incorporated a town around the springs and named it Bath. Since 1802, it has been referred to by the name of its original post office, Berkeley Springs. The population was 758 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hagerstown–Martinsburg metropolitan area.
Paw Paw is a town in Morgan County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 410 at the 2020 census. The town is known for the nearby Paw Paw Tunnel. Paw Paw was incorporated by the Circuit Court of Morgan County on April 8, 1891, and named after pawpaw, a wild fruit that grows in abundance throughout this region. Paw Paw is the westernmost incorporated community in Morgan County, and the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.
U.S. Route 522 is a spur route of US 22 in the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The U.S. Highway travels in a north-south direction, and runs 308.59 miles (496.63 km) from US 60 near Powhatan, Virginia, to its northern terminus at US 11 and US 15 near Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. US 522 serves many small cities and towns in the Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, and northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The highway serves the Virginia communities of Goochland, Mineral, Culpeper, the town of Washington, and Front Royal and the independent city of Winchester. US 522 then follows the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians north and then east through the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, a 2-mile-wide (3.2 km) stretch of Western Maryland, and South Central Pennsylvania to its terminus in the Susquehanna Valley. The highway serves Berkeley Springs, West Virginia; Hancock, Maryland; and the Pennsylvania communities of McConnellsburg, Mount Union, Lewistown, and Middleburg.
The Eastern Panhandle is the eastern of the two panhandles in the U.S. state of West Virginia; the other is the Northern Panhandle. It is a small stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Some sources and regional associations only identify the Eastern Panhandle as being composed of Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties. Berkeley and Jefferson counties are geographically located in the Shenandoah Valley. West Virginia is the only U.S. state with two panhandles.
Back Creek is a 59.5-mile-long (95.8 km) tributary of the Potomac River that flows north from Frederick County, Virginia, to Berkeley County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. Back Creek originates along Frederick County's border with Hampshire County, West Virginia, at Farmer's Gap in the Great North Mountain. Its name reflects its location to the west of North Mountain. The perspective of colonists from the east in the 18th century led them to call it "Back Creek", because it lay to the back of North Mountain.
The Washington Heritage Trail is a 136.0-mile (218.9 km) National Scenic Byway through the easternmost counties of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. The trail forms a loop through the three counties and traces the footsteps of George Washington and the marks his family left in the Eastern Panhandle. In addition to homes and sites related to the Washingtons, the Washington Heritage Trail also includes various museums, historic districts, parks, and other sites of historic significance in the area.
Hancock is an unincorporated community hamlet in Morgan County in the U.S. state of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. It is located off Hancock Road on River Road along the Potomac River north of Berkeley Springs. Originally known as Brosius, its post office's name was changed to Hancock in 1948 to reflect its location on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad mainline across the river from Hancock, Maryland.
Berryville is a former independent community in Morgan County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located south of downtown Berkeley Springs, Berryville sprouted up along U.S. Route 522 at the beginning of the 20th century; first as a farming community and then as a residential extension of a growing Berkeley Springs. It remains outside the Bath town limits. Berryville includes Berkeley Springs High School, Widmyer Elementary School, and Greenway Cemetery.
Rock Gap is an unincorporated community along Valley Road in Morgan County, West Virginia, United States. It is located between Omps to its south and Berkeley Springs to its north. Situated between Warm Springs Ridge to its west and Timber Ridge to its east, Rock Gap takes its name from the "Rock Gap" in Warm Spring Ridge, carved out by Rock Gap Run, a tributary stream of Sleepy Creek.
Mill Creek is a 14.5-mile-long (23.3 km) tributary of Opequon Creek, belonging to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds, located in Berkeley County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. Its name reflects its past as a popular site for various types of mills, beginning with one constructed by Morgan Morgan in the mid-18th century near his cabin in present-day Bunker Hill.
Omps is an unincorporated community that lies along U.S. Route 522 in Morgan County, West Virginia, USA. Omps previously had a post office that operated between 1887 and 1973.
Lake Holiday is a 249-acre (101 ha) artificial lake located northwest of Winchester in Frederick County, Virginia, United States. The lake flows into Isaacs Creek, an east-flowing tributary of Back Creek, which flows north through West Virginia to the Potomac River. The main creeks feeding the lake are Isaacs Creek and Yeiders Run/Miller Run.
Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area is located in Morgan and Berkeley Counties in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. It encompasses 22,928 acres (92.79 km2), mostly covered with mixed oak and pine forest, although about 3,500 acres (14 km2) are covered with mixed hardwoods. The 205-acre (83 ha) Sleepy Creek Lake is located entirely within the WMA.
Bells Crossroad is an unincorporated community in Spotsylvania County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. This community is centered on the intersection of Stubbs Bridge Road and Lawyer's Road.
Paytes is an unincorporated community in Spotsylvania County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. The community is marked at the intersection of Lawyer's Road and Catharpin Road by an electrical substation owned by Rappahannock Electric Co-op. A telecommunications tower was approved to be built on the site to expand cell coverage in the area on February 28, 2001.
