St. Marys, WV

At the 2020 census, the city of Saint Marys had 1,847 people and served as the Pleasants County seat, tucked along the Ohio River in the Parkersburg-Vienna orbit. Alexander Creel established the town in 1849 after a vision of Mary while traveling past the river, giving the place its name and its first piece of folklore. St. Marys sits at the mouth of Middle Island Creek, and the Ohio River remains the big geographic fact: it shapes the shoreline, the river traffic, and the view across to Ohio.

Railroad tracks run down the middle of Second Street, an arrangement that makes downtown feel unusually close to the freight line. Middle Island reaches into the river as part of Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge, with a bridge connecting the city to the island and its trails. Around town, the county-seat role keeps the courthouse and civic business in the mix, while the river and the trains provide the visual shorthand. St. Marys is a small Ohio River city where a founding legend, a working rail corridor, and an island preserve all fit into a compact map.