Little Birch, West Virginia Explained

Official Name:Little Birch, West Virginia
Pushpin Map:West Virginia#USA
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:West Virginia
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Braxton
Timezone:Eastern (EST)
Utc Offset:-5
Timezone Dst:EDT
Utc Offset Dst:-4
Elevation Ft:1138
Coordinates:38.5789°N -80.7067°W
Postal Code Type:ZIP code
Postal Code:26629
Area Code:304 & 681
Blank Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank Info:1542030[1]

Little Birch is an unincorporated community and linear settlement in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States. The community is 50miles miles northeast of the state capital of Charleston. It is 1.5miles to the east of Route 19, which runs locally from its conjunction with I 79 at the north to Summersville at the south. The nearest neighboring settlement is Sutton, 6miles to the north.[2]

Little Birch is part of the Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone, and takes its name from the Birch River which flows under Old Turnpike Road.[3] [4] It has a post office, with ZIP code 26629,[5] an elementary school, a filling station with store, a village hall, and an automobile sales business.[6] On Old Turnpike Road is Little Birch Baptist Church, affiliated to the Southern Baptist Convention.[7]

Arvil Ernest Harris (1925–1965), born at Little Birch, became mayor of Huntington, West Virginia, and was a political science and social studies professor at Marshall University in Huntington, where he was the first director of the university's graduate program and dean of the graduate school from 1948 to 1964. A hall, built in 1976 at Marshall University, is named after him.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: US Board on Geographic Names. 2008-01-31. United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25.
  2. https://gridreferencefinder.com?ll=38.578500|-80.706081|Point_s_C|1&v=r Little Birch
  3. http://www.caez-wv.org/purpose The Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone
  4. Book: Kenny, Hamill. West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. 1945. The Place Name Press. Piedmont, WV. 375.
  5. http://www.zipinfo.com/cgi-local/zipsrch.exe?cnty=cnty&zip=26629&Go=Go ZIP Code Lookup
  6. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Little+Birch+Preowned+Auto/@38.5773155,-80.7125737,3656m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x884be72457d435dd:0xe33ba01cb055506!8m2!3d38.584323!4d-80.7072562?hl=en Little Birch
  7. https://www.churchfinder.com/churches/wv/little-birch/little-birch-so-baptist-church "Little Birch So Baptist Church"
  8. https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1410&context=sc_finding_aids "Arvil Ernest Harris Papers, 1925-1965"