Rowlesburg, WV

Rowlesburg sits on the west side of the Cheat River on the tongue of the river bottom. The town was incorporated in 1858 and named for Thomas Jefferson Rowles, a Baltimore & Ohio division construction engineer. The railroad arrived in 1852; its bridges over the Cheat and Tray Run made Rowlesburg strategically important during the Civil War. The same rail-and-timber story shaped the Downtown Rowlesburg Historic District, where the central business district and adjoining houses still follow the valley floor.

Downtown is the place to start. The historic district includes 51 contributing buildings and a central commercial stretch of two-story frame and masonry buildings, while the festival calendar adds the Labor Day Ox Roast, West Virginia Chestnut Festival, and Christmas Market. The Cheat supports fishing, swimming, kayaking, and flat-water trips, with the Allegheny Trail and Civil War sites adding routes outward. The WWII Museum and B&O bridge models bring the railroad and wartime chapters into the town's current set of places to visit.