Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia

The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia is a narrow stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. It comprises the following counties:

Panhandle Trivia

• The Eastern Panhandle includes West Virginia's oldest chartered towns (1762) of Romney and Shepherdstown. The Panhandle also includes West Virginia's two oldest counties: Hampshire (1753) and Berkeley (1772).
• The Eastern Panhandle also includes both West Virginia's highest and lowest elevations above sea level: Spruce Knob, 4,863 feet (1,482 m), in Pendleton and Harpers Ferry, 240 feet (73 m), in Jefferson on the Potomac River.
• West Virginia's only natural lake, Trout Pond, is located in the Panhandle's Hardy County near Wardensville.
• Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties were forced to reluctantly join the new Unionist state of West Virginia in 1863 so that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad along the Potomac River would remain safely in Union hands. Shortly after West Virginia gained statehood, Mineral and Grant counties were created from Hampshire and Hardy in 1866.
• As of September 2005, the Eastern Panhandle has 245 (27.07%) of West Virginia's 905 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Berkeley County has the most at 106 properties listed.