Petersburg is a small city in the South Branch Potomac River Valley
In West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands, the Grant County seat of Petersburg bends along the South Branch of the Potomac River. It’s a city by designation, but a small town by atmosphere, a pocket of historic municipal buildings, homes and commercial strips framed by the South Branch Potomac River Valley’s mountain ridges. While visitors from the DMV are important to businesses and tourism hubs like the Smoke Hole Caverns along U.S. Route 220 and state Route 28, Petersburg is proudest to be a place where multiple generations of families have entered their produce into the same local fair and fished for the same shimmering lineage of golden trout. “It’s really nice to come out this way in Petersburg,” says Sandra Hunt, an associate broker with West Virginia Land and Home Realty specializing in Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral and Pendleton counties. “It’s a different lifestyle, a slower-paced place where people feel safe, the air is fresh, and you can just enjoy nature and wildlife with fewer restrictions. It feels like you can breathe better in West Virginia.”
Petersburg’s parks and major nearby West Virginia recreation areas
Golden rainbow trout swim in stocked West Virginia waterways like the South Branch of the Potomac River, a flashy mutation originally bred in a Petersburg hatchery. To fish or kayak in the South Branch, locals head to access points in the city or at Welton Park. Petersburg City Park offers a playground, sports courts, and a seasonal swimming pool. The Monongahela National Forest ranges over nearly a million acres of West Virginia’s mountains and river valleys. While the number of high-point hiking trails and scenic vistas within an hour’s drive of Petersburg is dizzying, residents are about 10 minutes from the North Fork Mountain Trailhead. Hikers have a steep ascent to the ridgeline, and might choose to travel south toward the iconic climbing destination, Seneca Rocks, or find viewpoints of the craggy, closer-to-home rock formation, Chimney Rock.
Single-family homes on small-town blocks and country acreages
Simple prewar National homes and bungalows mix with stately Queen Annes along Petersburg’s older residential blocks. Later subdivisions surrounded this core with houses that were popular from the 1940s through the 1970s, including ranch-style homes, Cape Cods and Colonial Revivals. New Traditional homes have been built in Craftsman- and Colonial Revival-inspired styles from the 1990s through the 2020s, both in spacious suburban developments and on private acreages farther from the city center. Homes on less than an acre sell for around $130,000 to $300,000, depending on their size and age. Homes on 1 to 2 acres on the outskirts of town can go for around $320,000 to $600,000. The gridded streets that fill Petersburg’s crook in the South Branch of the Potomac River are connected by sidewalks, but country roads that lead into the river valley’s rolling hills offer less walkability and more rural seclusion. “Families, second homebuyers and retirees moving there all want something peaceful. Somewhere to sit out on the porch and look at the woods, the mountains, the river – whatever’s around them,” Hunt says.
The Tri-County Fair and Spring Mountain Festival
Awarding ribbons for prime arts and agricultural products has been the core of Petersburg’s Tri-County Fair for more than a century, but plenty of modern musicians, carnival rides and other family-friendly attractions also draw thousands to the weeklong, summertime celebration. The Spring Mountain Festival has been an end-of-April tradition for a few decades, but its outdoorsy activities harken back to an even older whitewater festival on the South Branch of the Potomac River. A change in the river’s rapids means that kayak racing is no longer an annual tradition, though anglers still sign up for trout derbies at the city pool throughout a weekend full of parades, vendors and live music. Music lovers can enjoy concerts at the Landes Arts Center outside of larger events.
Shopping and dining along Routes 220 and 28
Small businesses and national chains line U.S. Route 220 and state Route 28 through the center of Petersburg. A short walk from the Grant County Courthouse, The Grove Cafe & Bakery serves fresh pastries and lattes in a historic cottage dining room and on an outdoor patio. Cheetah B’s is farther from the main drag, but its traditional American menu and casual atmosphere have made it a local staple. Shop ‘n Save Express and a couple of dollar stores supply groceries. Many small houses of worship hold services around the city, including First Baptist Church of Petersburg. For big box stores like Walmart, Moorefield is about 12 miles from home.
Attending Grant County Schools
Petersburg Elementary School serves prekindergarten through sixth grade and earns a B from Niche. Seventh through 12th graders attend Petersburg High School, which scores a C. South Branch Career and Technical Center offers vocational education in Petersburg, including a career discovery lab geared toward middle schoolers and hands-on learning programs for high schoolers working toward industry certifications.
Grant County commuting and trips toward the DMV
Many residents work for Grant County’s municipal and educational services, or at WVU Medicine Grant Memorial Hospital. U.S. Route 220 is Petersburg’s main artery, offering access to Eastern Panhandle towns like Moorefield. Grant County Airport is geared toward general aviation, so residents will need to travel about 125 miles to Washington Dulles International Airport for commercial flights. While the region is fairly car-dependent, Potomac Valley Transit Authority buses offer local service and regional routes to hubs like Winchester.
Flood risk in the South Branch watershed
Low-lying areas near the South Branch of the Potomac River and Lunice Creek may flood after unusually heavy rain. Buyers can consult maps to understand their potential risk and need for flood insurance.
Written By
Julia Szymanski
