Elkins was incorporated in 1890 and named for Stephen Benton Elkins, a US Senator from West Virginia from 1895 to 1911. The town grew up around the railroad and the timber trade that defined this corner of the Alleghenies in the late nineteenth century. Today, with about 7,000 residents as of 2020, it remains the county seat of Randolph County and the largest city for a significant distance in any direction. Buckhannon, the next town over, is slightly smaller; Clarksburg, the nearest city of any greater size, is more than an hour away. That isolation is part of the appeal. Elkins is a base camp, not a destination of its own.

Four major routes converge in Elkins, and that intersection has shaped the town's identity since the days of stage coaches. US-33 connects west to Buckhannon and east through the Shenandoah toward Harrisonburg, Virginia. US-219 runs north-south through the highlands, linking Somerset, Pennsylvania with Marlinton. US-250 reaches Grafton to the north and Staunton, Virginia to the south. US-48 parallels US-33 and then peels off toward Davis, Wardensville, and Strasburg, Virginia, where it meets I-81. The town has no public transit, but it does not really need one - the whole point of being here is to drive somewhere wild.

The list of nearby destinations explains the volume of overnight visitors. Seneca Rocks, less than an hour east, rises 900 feet in Tuscarora quartzite and has more than 450 mapped climbing routes - the most famous climbing wall east of the Mississippi. Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia at 4,861 feet, sits within easy reach with its stone-and-steel observation tower and 360-degree views. North in Tucker County, the twin towns of Thomas and Davis open onto Blackwater Falls State Park, the Canaan Valley, and Timberline. An hour south brings you to Snowshoe Mountain. Stuart Park, just outside town on US-33, offers riverside campsites, swimming, and picnic pavilions for visitors who want to stay closer.

Beyond the ramp festival, Elkins keeps a quiet but persistent cultural rhythm. Pickin' in the Park, held every Wednesday in the warm months and indoors in winter, brings local musicians together to play folk and country tunes and trade stories. The Antique Car Show fills the city park every Fourth of July weekend with vintage and modern vehicles, live music, and vendor demonstrations. The Inter-Mountain newspaper, headquartered on Railroad Avenue, has covered the town for generations. Davis and Elkins College, the small Presbyterian liberal arts school named for the same senators whose families donated land here, has its mansion-lined campus on the north side of town. From Elkins, you can be in the Monongahela National Forest in twenty minutes.