Berkeley County is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 122,076, making it the second-most populous of West Virginia's 55 counties, behind Kanawha County. The City of Martinsburg is the county seat.
Berkeley Springs is a town in, and the county seat of, Morgan County, West Virginia, United States, in the state's Eastern Panhandle. 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 Virginia post office, Berkeley Springs. The population of the town was 800 (estimated). The town is located within the Hagerstown–Martinsburg, MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Berkeley Springs is a sister city to Bath, Somerset, England.
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 Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, and western Virginia, USA. The Allegheny Front forms the boundary between the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to its east and the Appalachian Plateau to its west. The Front is closely associated with the Appalachian Mountains' Eastern Continental Divide, which in this area divides the waters of the Ohio/Mississippi river system, flowing to the Gulf of Mexico, from rivers flowing into Chesapeake Bay and from there into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Cacapon River, located in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle region, is an 81.0-mile-long (130.4 km) river known for its fishing, boating, wildlife, and scenery. As part of the Potomac River watershed, it is an American Heritage River.
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.
Sleepy Creek is a 44.0-mile-long (70.8 km) tributary of the Potomac River in the United States, belonging to the Chesapeake Bay's watershed. The stream rises in Frederick County, Virginia, and flows through Morgan County, West Virginia before joining the Potomac near the community of Sleepy Creek.
Meadow Branch is a 16.7-mile-long (26.9 km) tributary stream of Sleepy Creek in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle region. It passes through the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area, where it is dammed to form the 205-acre (0.83 km2) Sleepy Creek Lake.
Sleepy Creek Lake is a 205-acre (0.8 km2) impoundment of the Meadow Branch of Sleepy Creek in Berkeley County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. The reservoir is located entirely within the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area.
Cacapon Mountain runs northwest through Morgan and Hampshire counties in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, rising to its greatest elevation of 2,618 feet (798 m) above sea-level at High Point. Cacapon Mountain is a folded mountain ridge, belonging to the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province. Cacapon Mountain spans 16 miles (26 km) NNE to the Potomac River near Great Cacapon.
Mill Creek Mountain is a continuous mountain ridge that runs northeast through Hampshire and Hardy counties in the Eastern Panhandle region of the U.S. state of West Virginia. Rising to its greatest elevation of 2,650 feet (808 m) at High Knob, Mill Creek is a folded mountain ridge, belonging to the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians. Mill Creek Mountain forms the western edge of the South Branch Potomac River Valley and is named for Mill Creek that carves through it at Mechanicsburg Gap allowing the Northwestern Turnpike to pass through as well. Along with Sawmill Ridge, Mill Creek Mountain forms the Trough along the South Branch.
Patterson Creek Mountain is a mountain ridge that forms the border between Mineral and Hampshire counties and Grant and Hardy Counties in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. The mountain's namesake, Patterson Creek, parallels its western flank. The southern end of the Patterson Creek Mountain is near the confluence of Lunice Creek and the South Branch Potomac River and its northern end is located southwest of Springfield. The mountain reaches its highest elevation at Charles Knob.
Third Hill Mountain is both the highest and most topographically prominent mountain in Berkeley County within the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Third Hill Mountain reaches its highest elevation of 2,165 feet (660 m) above sea-level southeast of the "Locks-of-the-Mountain" where it "locks" with Sleepy Creek Mountain. The long distance Tuscarora Trail passes along ridge and bench of the mountain.
Blue Ridge Mountain, also known as Blue Mountain, is the colloquial name of the westernmost ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The Appalachian Trail traverses the entire length of the mountain along its western slope and crest.
Cherry Run is a 7.2-mile-long (11.6 km) meandering stream that forms the northern section of the boundary between Morgan and Berkeley counties in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. While it is mostly non-navigable, Cherry Run provides many pools of varying depths for fishing and swimming. As a tributary of the Potomac River, Cherry Run is part of the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.
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.
Tilhance Creek is a 10.4-mile-long (16.7 km) tributary stream of Back Creek in Berkeley County of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
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.
The Hagerstown–Martinsburg Metropolitan Area, officially designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as Hagerstown–Martinsburg, Maryland–West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), constitutes the primary cities of Hagerstown, Maryland, Martinsburg, West Virginia, and surrounding areas in three counties: Washington County, Maryland, Berkeley County, West Virginia, and Morgan County, West Virginia. The metro area lies mainly within the rich, fertile Cumberland and Shenandoah valleys, and is approximately a 60–90 minute drive from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Maryland, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Hagerstown is approximately 75 miles (121 km) driving distance from all three cities. The population of the metropolitan area as of 2008 is 263,753.
