Have you ever heard of Hardscrabble and Paddytown? If you’re a long-time resident of the Tri-Towns or Keyser, you probably have. But what about the Widow Burns’ Place, Llangollen, Mt. Pleasant, St. Clairsville or Pearsall’s Flats? Chances are, you’ve been to every one of them. They are all original place names for towns and cities in this area.
Hammill Kenny, who was born in Piedmont, wrote the original “West Virginia Place Names” book more than half a century ago. He also wrote a book on Maryland place names. Long out of print and almost impossible to find, his work remains the definitive resource for information about place names in the Tri-Towns area. The late Jim Comstock, who edited The West Virginia Hillbilly, used Kenny’s work when he wrote his 51-volume West Virginia Encyclopedia. Also out of print but available in the Piedmont Library, it is a great source of information on just about anything you need to know about the Mountain State.
So what is, or was, Hardscrabble? It’s Westernport, first identified as an unnamed trading post on a French military map in 1757. It received its original name because it was tough to grow anything in the rocky soil. But the name didn’t last long before being changed to Westernport. And, contrary to popular belief, the name has absolutely nothing to do with the building of the C&O Canal.
The name Westernport is mentioned in documents as early as 1779, 49 years before the C&O Canal started construction, and 38 years before any final plans were even made for the canal. Also, the builders of the canal never planned for it to continue any further along the Potomac than Cumberland. It was to follow Wills Creek north into Pennsylvania, and eventually on to the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, following a design that was initially conceived by George Washington. There was, however, a plan to build a canal to connect Cumberland and Westernport. That was the idea of General Duff Green and the Union Potomac Company, which also planned an extension of the B&O Railroad. Those plans came about in 1836, a full 57 years after Westernport was first mentioned under its current name. The railroad made it in 1851, abandoning any ideas for a canal.
How did Westernport get its name? It’s quite simple. In the mid to late 1700’s and into the early 1800’s, lumber, and later, coal, were loaded onto flatboats at the mouth of George’s Creek and floated down to near Great Falls on the Potomac. From there, the goods were loaded onto wagons to be sold in Washington. Even the flatboats were broken up into lumber, and the workers walked back home. Before the river silted up from development, Westernport was the western-most navigable port on the Potomac River. Hence the name. Thank heavens it’s not still called Hardscrabble.
Before the National Road was built between Cumberland and Wheeling, Westernport was an important point along a road that ran from Winchester, Va., to present-day Morgantown. Zackquill Morgan, who founded Morgantown, was the grandson of Morgan ap Morgan, the first permanent settler in what was to become West Virginia. He lived in Westernport for a time prior to 1767, because of its importance as a trading post along the road. The Zane family, who were the primary settlers of what is now Wheeling, and for whom the city of Zanesville, Ohio is named, were also one-time residents of Westernport.
KEYSER, W.Va. —
