Washington, WV

Washington is a Wood County census-designated place along the Ohio River, five miles west of Parkersburg. Its name recalls Washington Bottom, where George Washington received a 2,314-acre land grant dated 1772. The river edge is also an industrial one: Washington Works, now owned and operated by Chemours, is a large chemical and plastics manufacturing site in the community. The old bottom, the river, and the plant give Washington a very specific local map. It is an unincorporated place whose history starts with a founder's tract and continues through the factories and roads along the water.