Wirt County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,194, making it the least populous county in West Virginia. Its county seat is Elizabeth. The county was created in 1848 by the Virginia General Assembly and named for U.S. Attorney General and presidential candidate William Wirt. The Wirt County Schools are served by one high school, Wirt County High School.
Wirt County is part of the Parkersburg-Vienna, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Wirt County was created from parts of Jackson and Wood counties on January 19, 1848. The county was named after William Wirt (1772–1834).
The first European pioneer was William Beauchamp (1743–1808), a veteran of the Continental Navy and a Methodist minister. Beauchamp arrived in 1796 with a claim to 1400 acres on the Little Kanawha River. He farmed, built a mill, and laid out the town of Elizabeth, named after his daughter. Wirt County was divided into seven districts: Burning Springs, Clay, Elizabeth, Newark, Reedy, Spring Creek, and Tucker. Except for minor adjustments, the seven historic magisterial districts remained largely unchanged for over a century. In the 1980s, they were consolidated into three new districts: Central, Northeast, and Southwest.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.0%) is water.
Major highways
- 20px West Virginia Route 5
- 20px West Virginia Route 14
- 20px West Virginia Route 47
- 20px West Virginia Route 53
Adjacent counties
- Wood County (northwest)
- Ritchie County (northeast)
- Calhoun County (southeast)
- Roane County (south)
- Jackson County (southwest)