Elizabeth, West Virginia (WV), the seat of Wirt County, was chartered in 1822 and named for Elizabeth Beauchamp, the wife of settler David Beauchamp. The town figured prominently in the Burning Springs Oil Boom before the Civil War.
Located at a crossing on the Little Kanawha River, the sleepy village boomed when oil being produced upstream at Burning Springs was recognized as industrially valuable. The river was outfitted with locks that allowed steamboats to ply upstream from the Ohio River as early as 1842. The Kanawha Hotel, a relic of the oil-boom period in Elizabeth, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lodging near Elizabeth, West Virginia
Parks & Public Recreation
The near reaches of the Hughes Wildlife Management Area approach Elizabeth on the northwest and the Ritchie Mines Wildlife Management Area is located 10 miles farther east along the South Fork of the Hughes River.
Location
Elizabeth is located on highway WV-14 approximately 20 miles southeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia, and 30 miles north of Spencer, West Virginia,
Map of Elizabeth, West Virginia
Regional Information
Elizabeth is located in the Heartland Region of western West Virginia near the Mid-Ohio Valley Region.
