Editing Hardy County, West Virginia (section)

==Geography==
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the county has a total area of {{convert|584|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|582|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|2.2|sqmi}} (0.4%) is water.<ref name="GR1">{{Cite web |date=August 22, 2012 |title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files |url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/counties_list_54.txt |access-date=July 24, 2015 |publisher=United States Census Bureau}}</ref>

Through this county flows the [[Potomac River#South Branch Potomac River|South Branch Potomac River]] with its surrounding magnificent valley. Several miles wide, "the Valley," as it is commonly called, contains lands whose fertility lends itself to successful farming. Agriculture and stock raising have always been the main source of employment in this area, with corn, wheat, apples, peaches, melons, cattle and poultry having important interests. Truck-farming has a vital role, each household possessing its own small garden.

On either side of the Valley are high mountains with rough terrain and heavy timber. Throughout the area wildlife is plentiful, and hunting has always been a major diversion and source of meat supply.

The South Branch is a clear stream, quite wide, and of considerable depth in many places. Watering the Valley, the river abounds in fish and creates many picturesque settings. At times the usually calm waters surge from low banks and spread over the Valley, enveloping and ravishing the rich surrounding lands. The river has a peculiar feature in the field of geology as it flows through the Valley. At one point the river, thousands of years ago, did not cut across the mountains from one side to the other, but made a passage through them from end to end. This geological exception is now in the form of a narrow, trough-like gap, about {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}} long, and appropriately called "[[The Trough]]". At the present day, the gorge is several hundred feet deep, and the South Branch flows in a narrow channel at the bottom, with almost perpendicular walls of rock on either side.

In the very center of the South Branch Valley, surrounded by high mountains, and located on the east side of the junction of the [[Potomac River#South Fork South Branch Potomac River|South Fork South Branch Potomac River]] and the South Branch Potomac, is [[Moorefield, West Virginia|Moorefield]], the county seat of Hardy County. A quiet farming center in 1860, the population of the Moorefield area at that time was about 1,500. At this period there were no bridges at Moorefield, and the South Branch had to be forded some {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} up the Valley, or the ferryboat, which was usually busy, had to be used. The main towns that communicated with Moorefield were [[Petersburg, West Virginia|Petersburg]], [[Romney, West Virginia|Romney]], and New Creek (presently [[Keyser, West Virginia|Keyser]]) the latter having a stage line between the two points.

===Major highways===
[[File:2019-10-27 15 02 23 View east along U.S. Route 48 and West Virginia State Route 55 (Corridor H) from the overpass for McCauly Road in Fort Run, Hardy County, West Virginia.jpg|thumb|right|US 48 in Hardy County]]
*[[Image:US 48.svg|20px]] [[U.S. Route 48#West Virginia|U.S. Highway 48]]
*[[Image:US 220.svg|25px]] [[U.S. Route 220 in West Virginia|U.S. Highway 220]]
*[[Image:WV-28.svg|20px]] [[West Virginia Route 28]]
*[[Image:WV-29.svg|20px]] [[West Virginia Route 29]]
*[[Image:WV-55.svg|20px]] [[West Virginia Route 55]]
*[[Image:WV-59.svg|20px]] [[West Virginia Route 59]]
*[[Image:WV-259.svg|25px]] [[West Virginia Route 259]]

===Adjacent counties===
*[[Hampshire County, West Virginia|Hampshire County]] (north)
*[[Frederick County, Virginia]] (east)
*[[Shenandoah County, Virginia]] (southeast)
*[[Rockingham County, Virginia]] (south)
*[[Pendleton County, West Virginia|Pendleton County]] (southwest)
*[[Grant County, West Virginia|Grant County]] (west)

===National protected areas===
*[[George Washington National Forest]] (part)
*[[United States National Radio Quiet Zone]] (part)