Eastern Panhandle

The Eastern Panhandle is West Virginia’s narrow finger reaching east toward the Potomac and the DC metro orbit — three counties (Berkeley, Jefferson, Morgan) sitting between the Blue Ridge to the east and the Allegheny Front rising to the west. The terrain is gentle: limestone valleys, the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers cutting through, and farm country that runs to orchards on the warmer slopes. Martinsburg holds the largest population and the I-81 traffic; Charles Town runs the Charles Town Races and Casino; Harpers Ferry sits at the dramatic confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah, with the historic district inside Harpers Ferry National Historical Park; Shepherdstown holds the oldest town charter in the state and Shepherd University; Berkeley Springs is the long-running spa town in Morgan County. Trips here lean historic and easy. The Harpers Ferry-to-Shepherdstown corridor handles most of the cultural traffic — the C&O Canal towpath, the Antietam battlefield just across the Potomac, and the Appalachian Trail crossing through. Berkeley Springs runs the spa-and-mineral-baths weekend. The region is closer to DC and Baltimore than to Charleston, and most visitors arrive from the east.