Belington, WV

Belington is a Barbour County town set along the Tygart Valley River, with the river and the old railroad corridor doing most of the orienting. The town began as Barker’s Settlement, later picked up the Belin name from merchant John Bealin, and grew with industrial development in the late nineteenth century. Belington’s east side incorporated in 1894, the west side became Alston in 1897, and the two corporations joined in 1906.

The Civil War is close to the local map too. After the Union victory at Philippi in June 1861, Confederate forces retreated south and camped near the Laurel Mountain road above Belington. The river valley later brought railroad prosperity, but floods and battles are part of the same landscape. Today the town’s bridge, riverfront, downtown revitalization work, and road toward Elkins all point back to the Tygart corridor. Think of Belington as a small West Virginia river town built in layers: a settlement on both sides of the water, a railroad-era community, and a place where the 1861 campaign still has a physical route through the hills.