Welcome to Hardy County
West Virginia
History and Genealogy
Presented by
West Virginia Trails History and Genealogy
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Hardy County was created from Hampshire
County in 1786 and named for Samuel Hardy, a distinguished Virginian.
Through this county flows the South Branch of the Potomac River with its surrounding magnificent valley. In all West Virginia, one cannot find a more beautiful or interesting section than the South Branch Valley. Several miles wide, "the Valley," as it is commonly called, contains lands whose fertility lends itself to successful farming. Agriculture and stock raising have always been the main source of employment in this area, with corn, wheat, apples, peaches, melons, cattle and poultry having important interests. Truck-farming has a vital role, each household possessing its own small garden. |
| On either side of the Valley are high mountains with rough
terrain and heavy timber. Throughout the area wild-life is plentiful, and
hunting has always been a major diversion and source of meat supply. In the
winter snows are whipped by winds of gale force, and snowdrifts are usually
numerous.
The South Branch is a clear stream, quite wide, and of considerable depth in many places. Watering the Valley, the river abounds in fish and creates many picturesque settings. At times the usually calm waters surge from low banks and spread over the Valley, enveloping and ravishing the rich surrounding lands. The river has a peculiar feature in the field of geology as it flows through the Valley. At one point the river, thousands of years ago, did not cut across the mountains from one side to the other, but made a passage through them from end to end. This geological exception is now in the form of a narrow, trough-like gap, about seven miles long, and appropriately called "The Trough." At the present day, the gorge is several hundred feet deep, and the South Branch flows in a narrow channel at the bottom, with almost perpendicular walls of rock on either side. |
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In the very center of the South Branch Valley, surrounded by high mountains,
and located on the east side of the junction of the Moorefield River and
the South Branch of the Potomac, is Moorefield, West Virgina, the county
seat of Hardy County, West Virginia. A quiet farming center in 1860, the
population of the Moorefield area at that time was about 1,500. At this period
there were no bridges at Moorefield, and the South Branch had to be forded
some three miles up the Valley, or the ferryboat, which was usually busy,
had to be used. The main towns that communicated with Moorefield were Petersburg,
West Virginia, Romney, West Virginia, and New Creek, West Virginia the latter
having a stage line between the two points. -- Wikipedia.com
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THIS COUNTY IS AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION!! |
If you have the desire to help transcribe genealogical data and place it online for the free use of all researchers, contact Kim to become a host. Volunteer Information is available here.
This County currently does not have a host. This means that there is no one available to help answer your questions about this county's history or to help you with your family's genealogy within this county. WE REGRET THAT WE ARE UNABLE TO DO PERSONAL RESEARCH FOR YOU.
