About Hampshire County

Hampshire County is in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, centered about 40 miles west of Martinsburg and some 90 miles northwest of Washington, DC. Its northern boundary is the Potomac River, a part of West Virginia’s state border with Maryland. Its eastern boundary line is part of the West Virginia state border with Virginia. Hampshire was formed in 1753 from parts of Augusta and Frederick counties, Virginia. It is the oldest county in West Virginia, named for the English shire with the same name.

Hampshire County is rural with a present territory of 644 square miles and a population of 22,025 (growing in number, unlike most W. Va. counties). Its county seat is Romney (pop. 1,940), the state’s oldest town, located in the central western part of the county. The only other small community is Capon Bridge (pop. 200) in the eastern part of the county. It is drained by the Potomac River and its tributaries. The county does have rail connections along the Potomac as well as the South Branch of the Potomac River through Romney owned and operated by the state of West Virginia. In the western and southern parts are three wildlife management areas (Nathaniel Mountain, Springfield, and Short Mountain) plus a small portion of the George Washington National Forest.

Major employment is in health care and social assistance, retail, accommodation and food service, construction, and manufacturing. About half of the health care and social assistance employment is in nursing and residential care facilities. About half of the manufacturing employment is in sawmills and the making of wood products. In Romney education is a noticeable component of the economy because it is the location of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Forestry and logging are noticeable activities but employ only a few of the county residents. Agriculturally there is some raising of horses, but the major products are apples, eggs, forage, livestock, and poultry.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Magisterial districts

County parks

Wildlife management areas

National forests

Rivers and streams

[This information is drawn from the Wikipedia entry on Hampshire County, 2008]