Raleigh County, West Virginia
Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.
At a glance
SummaryThe National Register of Historic Places includes 11 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1970. Most listings are in or near Beckley, Crow, Tams.
Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.
Newspapers
Library of CongressNewspaper directory data for West Virginia is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Raleigh titles at the Library of Congress.
National Register of Historic Places
NPS NRHP5 of 11 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.
11 listed properties
| Property | City | Listed |
|---|---|---|
| Beckley Courthouse Square Historic District | Beckley | 1994 |
| Beckley Feed and Hardware Company | Beckley | 2001 |
| Beckley Mill Site | Beckley | 2017 |
| Little Beaver Dam | Crow | 1998 |
| New Salem Baptist Church | Tams | 2023 |
| Phillips-Sprague Mine | Beckley | 1988 |
| Sophia Historic District | Sophia | 2006 |
| St. Colman's Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery | Sandstone | 1984 |
| Trump-Lilly Farmstead | Hinton | 1990 |
| Wildwood | Beckley | 1970 |
| Wright-Hunter Cemetery | Beckley | 2024 |
Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.
County formation
Newberry AHCBRaleigh was formed in 1850 (1850-01-23) from Fayette.
RALEIGH created by Virginia from FAYETTE; on 20 June 1863 became a county in the state of West Virginia.
Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
Population by decade
CensusRaleigh County population from 1850 to 2020 (Census historical series).
| 1850 | 1860 | 1880 | 1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,765 | 3,367 | 7,367 | 12,436 | 42,482 | 86,687 | 96,273 | 77,826 | 86,821 | 79,220 | 74,591 |
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.
National Park Service sites nearby
NPSPark units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).
| Site | Type | Dist. |
|---|---|---|
| New River Gorge National Park and Preserve | National Park and Preserve | 26.0 km |
| Bluestone National Scenic River | National Scenic River | 32.6 km |
Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.
Cemeteries & historical places
USGS GNIS126 cemeteries and 16 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.
Cemeteries — 80 of 126 listed
| Name |
|---|
| Accord Cemetery |
| Adkins Cemetery |
| Aliff Cemetery |
| Allen Cemetery |
| Artie Cemetery |
| Athey Cemetery |
| Bailey Cemetery |
| Biggs Cemetery |
| Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens |
| Bone Cemetery |
| Bone Cemetery |
| Bradford Cemetery |
| Camp Creek Cemetery |
| Cannaday Cemetery |
| Cantley Cemetery |
| Cantley Cemetery |
| Chambers Cemetery |
| Clay Cemetery |
| Clay Cemetery |
| Clay Cemetery |
| Cook Cemetery |
| Cook Cemetery |
| Cooks Cemetery |
| Covey Cemetery |
| Daniel Cemetery |
| Daniel Cemetery |
| Daniels Cemetery |
| Daniels Cemetery |
| Davis-Bailey Homestead Cemetery |
| Dickens Cemetery |
| Dillon Cemetery |
| Dunbar Cemetery |
| Estep-Bailey Cemetery |
| Eunice Cemetery |
| Ewing Fork Cemetery |
| Farmer Cemetery |
| Farmer Cemetery |
| Flashman Cemetery |
| Fulton Cemetery |
| Goodson Cemetery |
| Greenwood Memorial Park |
| Harper Cemetery |
| Henderson Cemetery |
| Hill Cemetery |
| Hodge Cemetery |
| Hodge Cemetery |
| Honaker Cemetery |
| Hurst Cemetery |
| Jarrell Cemetery |
| Jarrell Cemetery |
| Jarrells Cemetery |
| Lafferty Cemetery |
| Lucas Cemetery |
| Massey Cemetery |
| Massey Cemetery |
| Maynor Cemetery |
| Maynor Cemetery |
| Maynor Cemetery |
| McDonald Cemetery |
| McGinnis Cemetery |
| McGinnis Cemetery |
| McGinnis Cemetery |
| Meadows Cemetery |
| Meadows Family Cemetery |
| Milam Cemetery |
| Miller Cemetery |
| Miller Cemetery |
| Miller Cemetery |
| Moles Cemetery |
| Mount Tabor Davis Addition Cemetery Davis Addition |
| New Salem Church Cemetery |
| Oak Grove Cemetery |
| Pettry Cemetery |
| Pettry Cemetery |
| Plumley Cemetery |
| Price Cemetery |
| Richmond Cemetery |
| Richmond Cemetery |
| Rorrer Cemetery |
| Rorrer Cemetery |
Historical populated places — 16 of 16
| Name |
|---|
| Baylor |
| Glen White Junction |
| Hamlet |
| Jenny Gap |
| Norvell |
| Oswald |
| Pear |
| Pinepoca |
| Rodes |
| Spangler Factory |
| Stonewall |
| Sylvia |
| Tamroy |
| White Stick |
| Whorley |
| Woodbay |
Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.
Historical markers
HMdb linkMarker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.
Search HMdb for Raleigh County, West Virginia
Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.