Preston County, West Virginia

Preston County is a county in West Virginia, United States, about 20 miles east of Morgantown in the Allegheny Mountains. It had a population of 34,216 at the 2020 census, an estimated 34,004 by 2025, and covers 651 square miles (1,690 km2) centred near 39°28′N 79°40′W.

Kingwood is the county seat and the county’s only city; its postal code is 26537. The county holds 1 city, 9 incorporated towns and 2 census-designated places, plus dozens of smaller unincorporated communities. West Virginia has no civil townships — the county is instead divided into five magisterial districts — and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 54077.

Towns & Villages in Preston County

Preston County has 109 named places on record: 1 city, 9 incorporated towns, 2 census-designated places and 97 further unincorporated communities with no local government or population count of their own. City and Town are formally incorporated; CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural hamlets with no formal boundary.

Two of the incorporated towns share a ZIP. Brandonville and Bruceton Mills sit about two miles apart in the county’s northern tip and both use 26525, so mail carriers, not town limits, decide which name a resident’s address shows. Bruceton Mills is the second-least populous incorporated town in West Virginia, ahead of only Thurmond.

The remaining 97 unincorporated communities have no separate census population or ZIP code of their own; they are crossroads, former rail stops and rural hamlets scattered across the county: Afton, Alpine Lake, Amblersburg, Amboy, Anderson, Beech Run, Birds Creek, Blaser, Borgman, Bretz, Brookside, Browns Mill, Bull Run, Burk, Caddell, Camp Ground, Carmel, Cascade, Chestnut Ridge, Claude, Clifton Mills, Colebank, Concord, Corinth, Cranesville, Cuzzart, Dayton, Denver, Dority, Eglon, Erwin, Etam, Evansville, Fellowsville, Five Forks, Freeport, Glade Farms, Gladesville, Guseman, Hardesty, Hazelton, Heathers Run, Herring, Hiorra, Hiram, Hopemont, Hopewell, Horse Shoe Run, Howesville, Hudson, Independence, Irona, Israel, Jessop, Kanes Creek, Kanetown, Keeler Glade, Laurel Run, Lenox, Little Sandy, Macomber, Manheim, Manown, Marquess, Morgans Glade, Mount Nebo, Mount Olivet, Mount Vernon, Mountain Dale, Mountain View, Orr, Pisgah, Pleasant Valley, Pleasantdale, Preston, Rockville, Rodemer, Rohr, Ruthbelle, Saint Joe, Salem, Salt Lick, Scotch Hill, Sell, Silver Lake, Sinclair, Snider, Stevensburg, Sugar Valley, Threefork Bridge, Turner Douglass, Valley Point, Victoria, West End, White Oak Springs, Wymps Gap and Zevely.

ZIP Codes

• 26537 — Kingwood
• 26764 — Terra Alta
• 26547 — Reedsville
• 26542 — Masontown
• 26425 — Rowlesburg
• 26444 — Tunnelton
• 26519 — Albright
• 26410 — Newburg
• 26525 — Brandonville and Bruceton Mills (shared)

Arthurdale, Aurora and the county’s unincorporated communities have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code.

Geography

Preston County sits on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia, a landscape of ridges and narrow valleys cut by the Cheat River. Of its 651 square miles, 649 are land and 2.6 are water, about 0.4 percent — the county has no large natural lake, and the Cheat River, which crosses the county from south to north through Rowlesburg and Albright, accounts for most of its surface water. Chestnut Ridge runs along the county’s western edge, and the Cheat River Canyon below Albright is one of the region’s better-known whitewater stretches.

Fayette County, Pennsylvania, borders Preston to the north, and Garrett County, Maryland, borders it to the east; neither has a Towns & Villages page. Within West Virginia, Tucker County and Grant County lie to the south, Barbour County to the southwest, Taylor County to the west, and Monongalia County to the northwest.

Demographics

Preston County had a population of 34,216 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 34,004 residents, a slight decline. Kingwood and Terra Alta are the two largest communities, together holding well under a fifth of the county’s population — most residents live outside any incorporated place. Median household income runs about $61,880, above West Virginia’s statewide figure of roughly $55,948. Population density works out to about 53 people per square mile of land, low even by West Virginia standards, reflecting the county’s mountainous, largely rural geography.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 2,763 people, followed by retail trade at 1,524 and educational services at 1,327. Preston Memorial Hospital, in Kingwood, is among the county’s largest employers, alongside Preston County Schools. Alpine Lake Resort, a golf and vacation community near Terra Alta, and the Arthurdale Heritage museum, which preserves the 1930s New Deal homestead project, are among the county’s notable institutions. The county’s biggest annual event is the Buckwheat Festival, held in Kingwood each late September, a county fair built around buckwheat pancakes that draws visitors from across the region.

History

Virginia’s General Assembly formed Preston County on 19 January 1818, carving it out of Monongalia County. It was named for James Patton Preston, then governor of Virginia. Preston became part of the newly created West Virginia when the state was admitted to the Union on 20 June 1863.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached the county in 1851, and its bridges over the Cheat River at Rowlesburg were strategically vital during the Civil War, drawing more Union than Confederate enlistments from local residents. In 1933, the federal government founded Arthurdale as a Subsistence Homesteads Division project, resettling unemployed miners and farmers on new homestead plots; Eleanor Roosevelt championed the project personally, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his only high school commencement address there in 1938. In January 1977, Terra Alta recorded 104 inches of snow, a West Virginia monthly snowfall record that still stands.

Getting There

Interstate 68 crosses the county’s northern half. U.S. Routes 50 and 219 and West Virginia Routes 7, 24, 26, 72 and 92 run through the county as well.

• Morgantown — about 20 miles northwest
• Grafton — about 20 miles southwest
• Oakland, Maryland — about 15 miles east
• Elkins — about 35 miles south

Morgantown Municipal Airport, roughly 25 miles northwest of Kingwood, is the nearest commercial airport. No passenger railroad serves Preston County today; the nearest Amtrak station is in Cumberland, Maryland, on the Capitol Limited line, about 45 miles east.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Preston County located?
It sits in West Virginia’s Allegheny Plateau region, about 20 miles east of Morgantown, bordered by Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and Garrett County, Maryland, plus Tucker, Grant, Barbour, Taylor and Monongalia counties within West Virginia.

What is the population of Preston County?
34,216 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 34,004.

How big is Preston County?
651 square miles (1,690 km2), of which 649 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Preston County?
Kingwood, the county’s only city, is the county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Preston County?
One city (Kingwood) and nine incorporated towns — Terra Alta, Reedsville, Masontown, Rowlesburg, Tunnelton, Newburg, Albright, Brandonville and Bruceton Mills — plus two census-designated places, Arthurdale and Aurora, and 97 unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Preston County use?
26537 for Kingwood, 26764 for Terra Alta, 26547 for Reedsville, 26542 for Masontown, 26425 for Rowlesburg, 26444 for Tunnelton, 26410 for Newburg, 26519 for Albright, and 26525 shared by Brandonville and Bruceton Mills.

What is Preston County known for?
The Buckwheat Festival in Kingwood, the New Deal-era Arthurdale homestead community, and Terra Alta’s 1977 state snowfall record of 104 inches in a single month.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in West Virginia.