Editing Berkeley County, West Virginia (section)

===The 18th century===
The next known explorer to traverse the county was [[John Van Meter]] (1683–1745) in the 1730s. He came across the [[Potomac River]], at what is now known as [[Shepherdstown, West Virginia|Shepherdstown]], then he made his way to the South Branch Potomac River. In 1726, [[Morgan Morgan]] moved from Delaware and founded the first permanent English settlement of record in West Virginia on Mill Creek near the present-day [[Bunker Hill, West Virginia|Bunker Hill]] in Berkeley County. The state of West Virginia erected a monument in Bunker Hill commemorating the event, and placed a marker at Morgan's grave, which is located in a cemetery near the park. Morgan Morgan and his wife, [[Catherine Garretson]], had eight children. His son, [[Zackquill Morgan]], later founded present-day [[Morgantown, West Virginia|Morgantown]].

In 1730, John Van Meter, with his brother Isaac (1692–1757),<ref>Their father was Joost Jansen Van Metern (or John Van Meter; 1656-1706) who had been born in [[Gelderland]] in the [[Netherlands]] and died in [[Salem County, New Jersey]].</ref> secured a patent for {{convert|40,000|acre|km2}} at the South Branch Potomac River, much of it in present-day Berkeley County, from Virginia's Colonial Lieutenant Governor [[Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|William Gooch]]. Part of the land was sold the following year to [[Hans Yost Heydt]], also known as Joist Hite or Jost Hite. In 1732, Heydt (Hite) and fifteen families set out from [[York, Pennsylvania]], passed through present-day Berkeley County, and settled near present-day [[Winchester, Virginia]]. In 1744, Isaac Van Meter moved to a site near [[Moorefield, West Virginia|Moorefield]] — then part of [[Hampshire County, West Virginia|Hampshire County]], but now in [[Hardy County, West Virginia|Hardy County]] (see [[Fort Pleasant]]) — where he was later killed by Indians. (His brother John settled and died in [[Winchester, Virginia]].)

In 1748, [[George Washington]], then just sixteen years old, surveyed present-day Berkeley County for [[Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron]]. He later returned to [[Bath (Berkeley Springs), West Virginia]] several times over the next several years with his half-brother, [[Lawrence Washington (1718–1752)|Lawrence]], who was ill and hoped that the warm springs might improve his health. The springs, and their rumored medicinal benefits, attracted numerous Native Americans as well as Europeans to the area.