Morgantown West Virginia
“A City of Distinction”
Town of Morgantown WV
The city of Morgantown is the county seat located in Monongalia County, West Virginia, situated along the banks of the Monongahela River in the Appalachian Foothills. Located in the Mountain County region, Morgantown is best known as the home of West Virginia University founded in 1867 and the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system. Morgantown features a variety of outdoor activities such as the WVU Art Museum and Core Arboretum to the Metropolitan Theatre of performing arts to Cheat Lake with beaches and hiking trails, and the Morgantown Farmers Market; Morgantown has plenty to offer the mountain visitor. In Morgantown your adventure could take you to a football game, beer festival, top rated restaurants, unique art galleries, boutique shopping, a farmers market, overlooks and hiking trails at Coopers Rock State Forest and Dorseys Knob, biking the Deckers Creek Rail Trail, or zipping through the air at the WVU Outdoor Education Center.
History of Morgantown WV
Morgantown is closely tied to the Anglo-French struggle for this territory. The Morgantown area was contested by settlers and Native Americans, and by the British and the French. The treaty decided the issue in favor of the British, but Indian fighting continued almost to the beginning of the American Revolution. Several forts were built in the area during this time: Fort Pierpont near the Cheat River, Fort Coburn, near Dorsey’s Knob, Fort Morgan, at the present site of Morgantown, in 1772; Fort Dinwiddle, north several miles at Stewartstown, Fort Martin, several miles north on the Monongahela River, Fort Burris in the present-day Suncrest area of Morgantown, Fort Kern in the present-day Greenmont area of Morgantown.
Zackquill Morgan, a colonel in the American Revolutionary War, and his brother David entered the area of Virginia that would become Morgantown in about 1767, and establishing a homestead near present-day Fayette Street and University Avenue. In 1783, following his wartime duties, Colonel Morgan commissioned Major William Haymond to survey his land and divide it into streets and lots forming the city of Morgantown, Virginia. Later to become Morgantown West Virginia in 1863.
- West Virginia Wine & Jazz Festival
- Core Aboretum
- Mountaineer Week
- Mountain Fest Motorcycle Rally
- Art Museum of West Virginia University
- Balloons over Morgantown
- West Virginia Wine and Jazz Festival
- West Virginia University Football & Basketball
- Morgantown History Museum
- Deckers Creek
- Cheat Lake
- West Virginia Botanic Garden
- Metropolitan Theatre
- Dorseys Knob Park
- Spark! Imagination and Science Center
- The Royce J. and Caroline B. Watts Museum
- White Park
- Downtown Morgantown Historic District
- Dents Run Covered Bridge