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Originally published July 25, 2024
MONROE COUNTY, Ohio – The village of Beallsville may be tiny but its contribution to the American experience is mighty.
And this week the village marks a major milestone with its Beallsville bicentennial celebration centered on Washington Street.
The celebration runs July 26, 27 & 28.
It features live music, a parade, food trucks, a scavenger hunt, a pedal tractor pull and fireworks. WOMP 100.5 will be on hand for a live radio broadcast.
Nestled in the rolling hills of Ohio Appalachia in Monroe County, Beallsville was founded by Mr. Citizen Beall in 1824. Town lore says Beall originally came from the Wheeling Creek area. Beall reportedly died while he was in church reaching for a song book, according to past newspaper accounts. He is buried in the old Methodist Church cemetery across from a former school and alongside his wife and daughter. His gravestone still stands.
According to past news accounts, village officials changed the name from Beallsville to Elva in 1835 but no one seems to recall the reason, and the name was switched back to Beallsville in 1851.
The town grew with the addition of a grocery store, general merchandise store and tobacco shop, according to a book researched by Alberts Crooks Vandyne for the town’s sesquicentennial celebration in 1974.
Beallsville gained national attention during the Vietnam War era in the late 1960s to mid-1970s for the loss of life suffered by its servicemen. Beallsville lost more than 1 percent of its population who were killed in the war. This was the highest loss of life per capita for those killed in action in Vietnam than any other town in America. A plaque in town commemorates the town’s sacrifice of its sons.
Raven Rocks, a spectacular rock formation, is also in Beallsville but across the Belmont County line. Visitors and Native Americans across the centuries have marveled at the site’s waterfall and natural beauty.
Beallsville is known for its rural setting and agriculture but also was home to two productive coal mines, the Murray Energy Powhatan No. 6 Mine which officially closed in 2017, and the Century Mine which closed in 2022.
The 2020 census counted 355 Beallsville residents, but the population is expected to dramatically grow, at least this weekend, for the monumental 200th anniversary of this quaint Ohio village.
For more information on the event, go to the Beallsville Bicentennial Event Facebook page.