Region: Mid Ohio Valley
Region
Established: 1848
County Seat: Elizabeth
Historic Fact: Burning
Springs was the destination of thousands of fortune seekers during the 1860s
following the discovery of oil. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil
was produced there between 1860 and 1870. During the Civil War, Confederate
cavalrymen, under the command of General William E. Jones, burned the town to
the ground on May 9, 1863, along with all 100,000 barrels of oil. The fire could be
seen over 40 miles away in Parkersburg.