Tag: Bunker Hill

New $3 Million Water Treatment Plant Slated For Berkeley County

Residents of Bunker Hill, an unincorporated community of Berkeley County, are slated to receive a new $3 million water pump through the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Berkeley County will soon receive a new water treatment plant, following a $3 million investment from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The new plant will service the unincorporated community of Bunker Hill. The current treatment plant there is 65 years old.

The Berkeley County Public Service Water District, which oversees the plant, has gained 4,000 new users in the last four years.

With West Virginia’s water infrastructure facing long-running issues tied to age and decreased funding, state officials have invested in water system upgrades for local communities in recent years.

This year alone, tens of millions of dollars have gone toward water projects across the state. The latest round of funding follows a federal spending request from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

In a press release Tuesday, Capito said she hoped the project would support population growth in the Eastern Panhandle county.

“As communities in Berkeley County continue to grow and develop, the need for additional clean water infrastructure is critical,” she said. “This funding is a step in the process of directing the resources that these communities need to provide clean water to the growing number of residents and businesses in the area.”

January 6, 1828: Ward Hill Lamon Born in Jefferson County

On January 6, 1828, Ward Hill Lamon was born in Jefferson County. He was raised at Bunker Hill, in Berkeley County, before moving to Danville, Illinois, at age 18. In 1852, Lamon’s life took a historic twist when he became the law partner of a former congressman—Abraham Lincoln.

The partnership ended four years later, when Lamon was elected prosecuting attorney. But they reunited when Lincoln became president in 1861. Lincoln brought Lamon with him to Washington to serve as U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia. The six-foot four-inch Lamon’s official job was to oversee the city’s prisons. But his unofficial duty was to serve as the president’s bodyguard. He monitored Lincoln’s movements and sometimes slept on the floor beside him.

At the end of the Civil War, Lamon was dispatched to Richmond, making him unavailable to guard the president on that fateful night at Ford’s Theater. After Lincoln’s assassination, Lamon came back to West Virginia to practice law. In 1876, he was passed over for the Republican nomination for governor and lost a race for congress. Lamon died in Martinsburg in 1893 at age 65.

November 17, 1766: Pioneer Morgan Morgan Died

Pioneer Morgan Morgan died on November 17, 1766. Generations of schoolchildren grew up being taught that Morgan was the first permanent white settler in present West Virginia. Now, though, we know that others came before him.

A native of Wales, Morgan emigrated in 1712 to Delaware, where he worked as a tailor and a coroner. In 1731, he settled in the Bunker Hill area of present Berkeley County. Four years later, he received a land patent in the region for 1,000 acres. He was an influential member of the Bunker Hill community and helped found Christ Episcopal Church. Today, his grave is part of the church’s cemetery, and a log cabin he built stands nearby.

So, if Morgan Morgan wasn’t West Virginia’s first permanent white resident, then who was? The answer might forever be a mystery. We do know that by the time Morgan arrived in 1731, some white settlers already lived here. One possibility for the earliest settlement is a community known only as Potomoke. Some historians believe that Potomoke, which was settled as early as 1717, could be the site of modern-day Shepherdstown.

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