Darkesville, West Virginia
# Darkesville, West Virginia

Darkesville is an unincorporated community in Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States. Established in 1791, Darkesville has been nationally recognized as a historic $district.^{:7}$

A post office and school (now closed) once operated in Darkesville.

## Geography

Darkesville lies between Inwood and Martinsburg along U.S. Route 11. The community's elevation is 531 feet (162 m), and it is located at about 39°22′25″N 78°1′30″W﻿ / ﻿39.37361°N 78.02500°W﻿ / 39.37361; -78.02500 (39.3738500, -78.0248602).

Middle Creek flows through the center of Darkesville.

## Name

Established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on December 7, 1791, on the property of James Buckells, Darkesville is named for William Darke, a Virginia military officer who had his headquarters in the $community.^{:7}$ Historically, Darkesville has been known by various names and a wide variety of spellings. An 1895 atlas showed the community as "Buckletown", and later variants included "Buckellstown", "Buckels Town", "Buckelstown", "Buckle Town" and "Bucklestown", all referring to the entrepreneurial James Buckles (1732-1796) who contributed land and laid out the town in 1790. "James Town" and "Locke" have also been applied to the community. Its current name has also been spelled "Darkes" and "Darkville".

## Historic district

In 1980, the community was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. Darkesville was recognized for its historic architecture, which includes approximately twenty-five buildings constructed as log cabins in 1810 or $earlier.^{:2,12,13}$

## External sources

"Darkesville: A Name Born of Tragedy," 8thVirginia.com (Gabriel Neville)

