Since the first documented arrival of white men in its borders in 1769, Lewis County has morphed from a howling wilderness known simply as West Augusta, Virginia, to a major player in a hub of interstate highway transportation and a recreational area with a number of tourist destinations. Formed from Harrison County in 1816, Lewis County and its 17,003 citizens represent the best of central West Virginia. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Jackson's Mill, Stonecoal Lake, and Stonewall Jackson Lake define the county by their unique place in history. The county's native sons and daughters have been industrialists, U.S. senators, Civil War generals, and nationally recognized athletes. They have been the fabric that makes America the great country it is today: the ordinary, everyday citizen who lives life to its fullest potential while enduring whatever struggle fate sets before them.