Grafton, WV

Grafton is the Taylor County seat in West Virginia, set along the Tygart Valley River where U.S. 50 and U.S. 119 meet. The 2020 census counted 4,729 residents. The city was chartered in 1856 and named for John Grafton, a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad engineer. Railroad tracks made Grafton a major switching point for coal, timber, manufactured goods, and passengers moving between the East and the Ohio River Valley.

Grafton holds both of West Virginia's national cemeteries, including Grafton National Cemetery, the state's first, dedicated in 1868. The International Mother's Day Shrine occupies the former Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, where the first Mother's Day observance took place on May 10, 1908, after Anna Jarvis asked the congregation to honor mothers. Grafton also continues a Memorial Day tradition that began as Flower Strewing Day in 1867. Taylor County schools, the Tygart Valley River, preserved railroad landmarks, and nearby Tygart Lake State Park round out a city whose history is written in tracks, churches, cemeteries, and river hills.