Charles Town, West Virginia, United States

🇺🇸 Charles Town is a city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, and the county seat. The city is named for its founder Charles Washington, youngest brother of President George Washington. It is part of the north-western fringes of the Washington metropolitan area.

History "Charlestown" was established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in January 1787. However, for about two decades, confusion arose because the same name was also used for a town established in Ohio County at the mouth of Buffalo Creek and authorized in the 1791 term of that local court. That area in 1797 became known as Brooke County, with that "Charlestown" as its county seat until a December 27, 1816 act of the Virginia General Assembly changed its name to Wellsburg, to honor a trader and his son.

Charles Washington, the founder of Charles Town, was born in Hunting Creek, now Fairfax County, Virginia, on May 2, 1738. He was the youngest full brother of George Washington. He came to what is today Jefferson County between April and October 1780. The estate of Charles Washington, Happy Retreat, was erected in 1780. In 1786, on 80 acres (320,000 m²) of his adjoining land, Charles laid out the streets of Charles Town, naming many of them after his brothers and one after his wife, Mildred. He donated the four corner lots at the intersection of George and Washington Streets for public buildings of the town and county, provided the town become the seat of the county separated from Berkeley County, which it did in 1801. The four corner lots are occupied by the courthouse, city hall, post office (formerly the jail), and Charles Washington Hall, an event space and food hall.

In 1794, James Madison married "Dolly" Todd at Harewood, the home of George Steptoe Washington, son of George Washington's brother Colonel Samuel Washington, just outside Charles Town.

History: 19th century Jefferson County was formed in 1801 as Charles Washington had anticipated. The county court house stands on one of the lots he donated, as did the jail until 1919, when it was demolished and replaced by the Post Office.

Charles Washington died sometime between July and September, 1799, only a short while before the death of his brother George. Charles' and his wife Mildred's grave sites near Evitts Run have recently been located and surrounded by a stone wall.

In 1844, the first issue of the Spirit of Jefferson newspaper was published in Charles Town by James W. Beller. It is the oldest newspaper in the state still (2020) being published.

On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown and his followers raided the Federal arsenal at nearby Harpers Ferry, 7 miles (11 km) east of Charles Town. The insurrection was quickly put down and John Brown and his six captured associates were tried in the Jefferson County Courthouse for treason, murder, and fomenting a slave insurrection; all were found guilty and were hanged at the location occupied today by the Gibson-Todd House. Brown's trial and execution brought the national press and many other visitors to Charles Town. During the six weeks between Brown's arrest (October 19) and his execution (December 2) Charles Town was an armed military camp; hundreds of soldiers were stationed there to prevent a rescue of Brown, and a cannon was placed in front of the courthouse. See Virginia v. John Brown.

During the first two years of the Civil War, the front lines of the Union and Confederate armies in the area fluctuated and the town frequently changed hands during the military engagements in the surrounding areas, with the town first occupied by Confederate troops, then Union troops, then back to Confederate until 1863 when Union troops occupied the town for the remainder of the war.

In 1883, the Valley Telephone Company was incorporated in West Virginia and began installing telephone lines throughout Jefferson County. The company's main office was in Charles Town.

A writer in 1898 commented as follows: Charles Town, which thirty-eight years ago had about fifteen hundred inhabitants, is now a thriving town of thirty-five hundred. The Court-House, in which John Brown and his followers (seven in number) were tried, has been remodeled, the jail in which they were incarcerated torn down and rebuilt; and on the site of the "execution" is erected a fine mansion, the residence of Colonel John Thomas Gibson, who was Colonel of the 55th Regiment Virginia Militia at that time (1859), and who was an active participant in the capture of John Brown and his followers.

History: 20th century In 1922, Bill Blizzard, a leader of striking coal miners during the Battle of Blair Mountain, was charged with treason and murder for engaging in warfare against state and federal troops in Mingo and Logan Counties. He was tried in the Jefferson County courthouse in Charles Town and was found not guilty.

The Charles Town Race Track first opened in 1933. It was built on land purchased from the Charles Town Horse Show Association. In 1999, the Charles Town Race Track underwent major renovation which included a large addition to house video slot machines. It was renamed Charles Town Races & Slots. It became the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races on July 2, 2010.

In 1975, the Jefferson Memorial Hospital in neighboring Ranson opened, replacing Charles Town General Hospital. It became part of the West Virginia University Health System and was renamed Jefferson Medical Center in 2013.

History: 21st century Charles Town's population has more than doubled since 2000, due in part to annexation of housing subdivisions that have been developed on land around the original city.

Geography Charles Town is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.866 square miles (15.19 km²), all land. Charles Town is located 63 miles (101 km) north-west of Washington, D.C. and 76 miles (122 km) west of Baltimore.

Demographics According to realtor website Zillow, the average price of a home as of May 31, 2025, in Charles Town is $402,198. As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 2,531 estimated households in Charles Town with an average of 2.67 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $94,830. Approximately 7.4% of the city's population lives at or below the poverty line. Charles Town has an estimated 69.4% employment rate, with 38.1% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 94.0% holding a high school diploma.

The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (89.5%), Spanish (7.3%), Indo-European (2.1%), Asian and Pacific Islander (1.1%), and Other (0.0%).

The median age in the city was 38.5 years.

Education • Jefferson High School • Washington High School • Charles Town Middle School • Harpers Ferry Middle School • Shepherdstown Middle School • Wildwood Middle School • Blue Ridge Elementary School • Blue Ridge Primary School • C.W. Shipley Elementary School • Driswood Elementary School • North Jefferson Elementary School • Page-Jackson Elementary School • Ranson Elementary School • Shepherdstown Elementary School • T.A. Lowery Elementary School • Wright Denny Elementary School • American Public University/American Military University • Catholic International University.

Transport Charles Town is served primarily by two main highways, U.S. Route 340 and West Virginia Route 9, which run concurrently for a short stretch in the vicinity of Charles Town. US 340 travels in a general south-west to north-east direction, connecting Charles Town to locations in the eastern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to the southwest. To the north-east, US 340 provides direct access to Harpers Ferry and Frederick. WV 9 traverses the region with a northwest-to-southeast orientation, connecting Charles Town to Martinsburg and Leesburg. Additional highways serving Charles Town include West Virginia Route 51 and West Virginia Route 115.