Hedgesville, West Virginia is a metaphor of history for the United States of America. It is old. It began with a spring. This book offers a delightfully vivid portrait of the strength & trials of this small American village-town and how it contributes to the strength of the Republic as a whole. It grew with the pace of the settlement of the nation and reflected these changes by a microcosm of recorded information. When the area was animal trails and verdant brush and trees, there was located a spring of natural, ever flowing water and civilization grew around this gap in the mountain. Later Indians came and used its waters and possibly made a temporary settlement. By the 1720's, settlers from the northern colonies who were originally from Ireland, Germany, and others, came to make their homes in the land beyond this gap in the mountains. Commerce, the westward expansion, Skinners Gap, a town, the Civil War, prosperity of the 1880s, schools, doctors, village life --- these are the major themes of the book. This archive history chronicles these things by documents, newspaper accounts, written remembrances, and specific research that is rich in local names, families, and recorded events. It may inspire others to research, write, and then share with future generations, other stories of this area and its rich, historical heritage.