Rosbys Rock, West Virginia

Rosbys Rock is an unincorporated community in Marshall County, West Virginia.

Rosbys Rock
Unincorporated community
Rosbys Rock
Location within the state of West Virginia
Rosbys Rock
Rosbys Rock (the United States)
Coordinates: 39°50′29″N 80°42′43″W
CountryUnited States
StateWest Virginia
CountyMarshall
Elevation
778 ft (237 m)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
GNIS ID1546066[1]

The community was named after Roseby Carr, who with his son led two railroad construction crews that met on December 24, 1852 and thereby connected the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to the Ohio River near a huge (900 cubic yard) sandstone boulder near the original town site.[2]

At the height of train service, eight passenger trains and eight to twelve freight trains passed through the town daily, and B&O crews kept painting a memorial sign (originally carved with typographical error) on the rock. The last passenger train ran through the village in 1957 and the last freight train in 1973 or 1972. The tracks were removed in 1974 and replaced by an unpaved road (Boulder Road)(on the opposite side of Grave Creek from the paved Grave Creek road).[3][4][5]

The historical marker about the event is about 5 miles west of the actual rock, at the intersection of Lafayette and 12th Streets near the Ohio River bridge, with additional signage on 12th street pointing the route to Grave Creek Road.[6]

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rosbys Rock, West Virginia
  2. Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 541.
  3. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/127
  4. http://www.wvculture.org/goldenseal/winter05/rosby.html
  5. http://www.archivingwheeling.org/blog/rosbys-rock-christmas-eve
  6. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMK605_Rosbys_Rock


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.