Qualla: Scary, West Virginia

Scary, West Virginia: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Of all the place names produced by the long history of westward American settlement, Scary, West Virginia, is one of the better ones. The unincorporated community sits at the mouth of Scary Creek on the south bank of the Kanawha River in Putnam County, at an elevation of about 670 feet above sea level. There is a Civil War battle here that gave the place its bookmark in the national record - the Battle of Scary Creek, July 17, 1861, the first Confederate victory in the Kanawha Valley. Two roadside markers in the community commemorate the engagement. Beyond that, Scary is what most West Virginia communities of its size and age have become: a small cluster of houses along U.S. Route 35 with a post office that closed long ago and a name that travelers from out of state cannot quite believe is real.

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Scary, West Virginia: The Origin of the Name

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Like most evocative American place names, Scary's etymology has produced more than one plausible explanation, none of them definitively documented. One common local story attributes the name to Native American legends about strange events along the creek - panther screams in the ...

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Scary, West Virginia: The Battlefield Two Markers Mark

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On July 17, 1861, Union and Confederate forces fought across the creek and the road that crosses it. The battle was small by Civil War standards - about 1,300 Federal troops against about 900 Confederates - and the casualties were modest: 14 Union killed, around 30 wounded, betwe...

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Scary, West Virginia: Life on the Kanawha

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Scary, like dozens of similarly small unincorporated places along the Kanawha River, grew up around the practical geography of river crossing and overland travel. The mouth of Scary Creek offered a small protected landing for flatboats and later for steamboats. U.S. Route 35, the...

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Scary, West Virginia: What's in a Name

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The American highway system produces a particular kind of low-grade fame for places with memorable names. Scary, West Virginia, has been a stop on the regional 'photograph the funny sign' circuit for as long as there have been postcards. Visitors driving U.S. 35 between Charlesto...

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