Martinsburg

City and seat of Berkeley County, in the far northeast of West Virginia; population (1990) 14,100. Martinsburg lies in the state's Eastern Panhandle, 26 km/16 mi southwest of Hagerstown, Maryland.

Founded in 1759, Martinsburg contains many houses dating from the Colonial period, and lies in an historic region. Bunker Hill, 16 km/10 mi south-southwest of the city, was founded in 1729, and is the earliest European settlement in West Virginia. The city's development was promoted when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad traversed the region in the 1840s. During the Civil War, it was occupied by both sides, troops were raised locally for both the Union and the Confederacy, and the Southern spy Belle Boyd was active here. Martinsburg is a railway centre surrounded by apple and peach orchards. Its industries turn out glassware, car parts, and various other products, and there are county and federal administrative offices here.