Terra Alta West Virginia
“It’s Meaning, High Land”
Town of Terra Alta WV
The town of Terra Alta, near the Allegheny Highlands, in Preston county is famous for being called the, “half-mile-high city,” of West Virginia. The town’s elevation is 2,582 feet above sea level and was long known as “Cranberry” and “Cranberry Summit,” named for cranberry glades found nearby. The town of Terra Alta as was famous for being the highest point on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
History of Terra Alta WV
Terra Alta was originally called Portland, and under the latter name had its start in the 1850s. The present name Terra Alta is derived from Latin meaning “high land”. By 1853 Cranberry Summit, later known as Terra Alta, had become the center of considerable lumber and timber business.
The Legislature of 1911 created a tuberculosis sanitarium, located near Terra Alta. Now a private health facility, Hopemont Sanitarium was established on a hill northeast of the town where the climate was judged ideal for patients in need of clean mountain air.
- Alpine Lake Resort
