Hampshire County, West Virginia
| Hampshire County, West Virginia | |
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Hampshire County Courthouse, 1920s
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 Location in the U.S. state of West Virginia |
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 West Virginia's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | December 13, 1754 |
| Named for | Hampshire, England |
| Seat | Romney |
| Largest city | Romney |
| Area | |
| • Total | 645 sq mi (1,671 km2) |
| • Land | 640 sq mi (1,658 km2) |
| • Water | 4.4 sq mi (11 km2), 0.7% |
| Population (est.) | |
| • (2015) | 23,353 |
| • Density | 36/sq mi (14/km²) |
| Congressional district | 2nd |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 |
| Website | www |
Hampshire County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,964. Its county seat is Romney, West Virginia's oldest town (1762). The county was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1754, from parts of Frederick and Augusta Counties (Virginia) and is the state's oldest county. 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.
Although its creation was authorized in 1754, 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 (1833), the county was named in honor of its several prize hogs. The story goes that Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693–1781), 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.
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