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The Commemorative Quarter for West Virginia







Welcome to Laurel ...

So far, we found very little information about Laurel. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Laurel to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Laurel, please Contact Us.


Laurel would have been located within present day Barbour County<2>.


The location of Laurel has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<3>


While we don't have a date for the founding of Laurel, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1892.

When the people of Laurel referred to themselves (known as a demonym), they are believed to have used Laurelite<4>

While the community is gone, the present day location for Laurel is 1,750 feet [533 m] above sea level.<5>.

Time Zone: The area where Laurel was located is in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Laurel would have been located in the (304) & (681)<6> area codes.

Communities Also Named Laurel ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 40 communities that are also named Laurel - they are located in Alabama, Arkansas, California (3), Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky (2), Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina (2), Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania (4), Quebec, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee (2), Texas, Virginia (3) and Washington (2).

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Laurel.

Communities near Laurel ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Laurel.

  • Elkins
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Buckhannon
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Philippi
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Belington
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Parsons
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Mill Creek
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mill Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Creek
    • Mill Creek is located in Randolph County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 681 people
  • Beverly
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Womelsdorf
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Womelsdorf have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Womelsdorf
    • Womelsdorf is located in Randolph County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 235 people
  • Huttonsville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Montrose
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montrose have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montrose
    • Montrose is located in Randolph County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 151 people

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Laurel. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Laurel.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Laurel. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Laurel.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Laurel. See our Newspapers Page for Laurel.

Adding Laurel to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Laurel in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Laurel was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

From that list, the Laurel post office opened in 1892.

We also found Laurel on a map titled Rand McNally Map of West Virginia (1911).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Laurel.

The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Laurel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>If you're interested in how the shape of West Virginia's counties, including Barbour, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<3>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<4>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Laurel refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a community's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Laurel may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<5>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Laurel - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<6>Area code (681) is an overlay for area code (304).
<7>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<8>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 10 Mar 2024