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Bethel

Ghost town · Mercer County, West Virginia

Bluefield quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1916, 1:62,500)
Bluefield quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1916, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Bethel is a ghost town in Mercer County, West Virginia. It is one of 12 former communities in Mercer County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 10th among the 53 West Virginia counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Bethel as a historical populated place on the Bluefield topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 37.2712° N, 81.1673° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleBluefield
Elevation2,624 ft
Nearest living townBluefield, WV
Distance to it2.5 miles
GNIS feature ID1678351
Coordinates37.27123, -81.16732

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Bethel is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Bluefield, WV (population 9,511), about 2.5 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 2,624 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Bethel?

Bethel is in Mercer County, West Virginia, at 37.2712, -81.1673.

How many ghost towns are in Mercer County?

Mercer County, West Virginia has 12 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.