| Hampshire County, West Virginia |
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Information AboutHampshire County, West Virginia |
Hampshire County is a County located in the U.S. State of West Virginia . As of 2000, the Population is 20,203. Its County Seat is Romney 6 , West Virginia's Oldest Town (1762). Hampshire County was created by the Virginia General Assembly on December 13 , 1753 from parts of Frederick and Augusta counties ( Virginia ) and is the oldest county in the state of West Virginia. The county lies in both West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle and Potomac Highlands regions. Hampshire County is part of the Winchester, VA-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) . NOMENCLATURE Although its creation was authorized in 1753, Hampshire County was not actually organized until 1757 because the area was not considered safe due to the outbreak of the French And Indian War (1754-1763). According to Samuel Kercheval 's ''A History of the Valley of Virginia'', the county was named in honor of its several prize hogs. The story goes that Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax Of Cameron , who owned the Royal Grant to the area, came upon some very large hogs in Winchester and asked where they had been raised. He was told that they were from the South Branch Potomac River Valley (now Hampshire County). He remarked that when a county was formed west of Frederick that he would name it in honor of the county Hampshire , England , famous for its very fat hogs. GEOGRAPHY According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 1,670 Km&2 (645 Mi&2 ). 1,662 km&2 (642 mi&2) of it is land and 8 km&2 (3 mi&2) of it (0.45%) is water. Major highways Adjacent counties
Rivers and streams
Natural landmarks Mountains
Other geological formations Hampshire County maps
DEMOGRAPHICS
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