Barbour County, West Virginia

Barbour County
County
Barbour County Courthouse in Philippi Audra State Park Adaland Philippi Covered Bridge
Flag
Location of Barbour County in West Virginia
West Virginia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 39°08′N 80°00′W / 39.13°N 80°W / 39.13; -80
Country	United States
State	West Virginia
Founded	March 3, 1843
Named for	Philip P. Barbour
Seat	Philippi
and largest city
Government
• County Administrator	Shana Frey [1]
• County Commission	David Strait (R)[2] Jamie Carpenter (R)[3] Jedd Schola (R)[4]
Area
• Total	888.0 km2 (342.85 sq mi)
• Land	883.3 km2 (341.06 sq mi)
• Water	4.6 km2 (1.79 sq mi)  0.5%
• Rank	37th
Population  (2020)
• Total	15,465
• Estimate  (2021)	15,468
• Rank	36th
• Density	17/km2 (45/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Area code(s)	304, 681
Congressional district	2nd
Senate district	11th
House of Delegates district	68th
Website	https://barbourcountywv.org/

Barbour County is a county in north central West Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 15,465.^[5] The county seat is Philippi,^[6] which was chartered in 1844. Both county and city were named for Philip P. Barbour (1783–1841), a U.S. Congressman from Virginia and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The county was formed in 1843^[7] when the region was still part of the state of Virginia. In 1871, a small part of Barbour County was transferred to Tucker County, West Virginia.

The Battle of Philippi, also known as the "Philippi Races", was fought in Barbour County on June 3, 1861. Although a minor action, it is generally considered the first land engagement of the American Civil War.

For 114 years (1909-2023), Barbour County was home to Alderson-Broaddus College (later Alderson Broaddus University), an American Baptist institution. Its four-year Physician Assistant (PA) baccalaureate program was the first such anywhere.