Onego, West Virginia

Onego
Unincorporated community
Onego is located in West Virginia
Onego
Onego
Location within the state of West Virginia
Onego is located in the United States
Onego
Onego
Onego (the United States)
Coordinates: 38°50′52.7028″N 79°25′20.1414″W / 38.847973000°N 79.422261500°W / 38.847973000; -79.422261500
CountryUnited States
StateWest Virginia
CountyPendleton
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
GNIS feature ID1552388[1]

Onego (pronounced '1 go') is an unincorporated community located along U.S. Highway 33 at the confluence of Seneca Creek and Roaring Creek in Pendleton County, West Virginia, United States. Onego lies within the Monongahela National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains, near Seneca Rocks.

Several folk theories of the etymology of the name exist. The community may have been named after an Indian tribe.[2] Some residents claim that the town was so named because a previous version of the bridge through town crossing Roaring Creek was so narrow that it only allowed one car to go at a time. The name is actually a Seneca word meaning pool, found referring to the pool of Bethesda in the Seneca Gospel, John 5:2.[3]

Onego is also the site of actor Johnny Lewis' grandparents' homestead.

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Onego, West Virginia
  2. ^ Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 460.
  3. ^ Wright, Asher (1878). The Four Gospels in the Seneca Language. The American Bible Society. p. 363.