Mercers Bottom, West Virginia

Mercers Bottom, West Virginia
Unincorporated community
Mercers Bottom, West Virginia
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	West Virginia
County	Mason
Elevation	584 ft (178 m)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s)	304 & 681
GNIS feature ID	1552054

Mercers Bottom is an unincorporated community in Mason County, West Virginia, USA. It is situated on the east bank of the Ohio River along West Virginia Route 2 some 13.5 miles (21.7 km) south of Point Pleasant.

Geography

The name "Mercer's Bottom" originally designated a much larger area than today. On modern maps, it generally occupies a two-mile stretch of Route 2 between Apple Grove (on the north) and Ashton (on the south).

History

Mercers Bottom is named for the celebrated Revolutionary War General Hugh Mercer (1726–1777) who (posthumously) received a large land grant here for his services. The 16,000 acre tract was surveyed by order of George Washington for the General's heirs.

Nearby are the graves of such early settlers as Adjutant John Hereford and Ensign John Wilson, both soldiers in Washington's Revolutionary Army. Hereford was Adjutant in Col. John Alexander's Virginia Regiment under Lafayette at the Battle of Yorktown. Born in Fairfax County, Virginia in 1758, Hereford moved to Mercers Bottom in 1808, served as magistrate and sheriff, and died there in 1846.