Oceana was originally settled in 1797 by John Cooke. The county seat of Wyoming County from 1850 to 1907, Oceana was incorporated in 1947. Originally named Cassville, the community was renamed Sumpterville in 1851. In 1853, Thomas Dunn English, author of “Sweet Alice, Ben Bolt”, who was then practicing law in Wyoming County, persuaded the court to change the town's name to Oceana, in honor of the youngest daughter of the Mingo Indian chief, Cornstalk.
That we could have been Sumpterville High graduates?
That an army of 37,000 men marched through Oceana?
Find this and other fascinating facts in a 1927 Oceana Community History by Warner Walker. If this kind of stuff interests you, there’s a lot of information about about the early American Indian residents in this Wyoming County History.
That fear of business competition caused the county seat to be
moved to Pineville?
The whole story is explained in an article compiled and written by the workers of the Writer’s Project in 1940 during the WPA era.
That the current issue of
Wonderful West Virginia magazine features Wyoming County?
Twin Falls State Park
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