HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A preserved 1863 Union earthwork fort above Parkersburg, built to guard the B&O Railroad and now a hilltop park with Civil War haunting reports.
Fort Boreman Drive, Parkersburg, WV 26101
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; county historical park open to the public
Access
Limited Access
Hilltop park with trenchwork earthworks; some uphill walking on unpaved ground
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1863 · Union earthwork fort built 1863 to guard the B&O Railroad · Named for West Virginia's first governor, Arthur I. Boreman · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (2002)
Fort Boreman sits on a hill overlooking Parkersburg, where the Little Kanawha River meets the Ohio. Company A of the 11th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment built the fort in 1863, the same year West Virginia was admitted to the Union, to protect a vital supply line: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad connection between Wheeling and Parkersburg, which the Confederate army repeatedly threatened to cut or commandeer.
The fortification took the form of a series of paired trenches, roughly four feet deep, encircling the crest of the hill in a zigzag pattern. From that height the garrison commanded the river junction and the rail approaches into Parkersburg. The fort took its name from Arthur I. Boreman, West Virginia's first governor.
Fort Boreman remained in use through the closing period of the Civil War. After the war the earthworks survived on the hilltop as the surrounding city grew below. The 12-acre site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 2002, recognized as a historic archaeological site.
Wood County developed the hill into Fort Boreman Historical Park, preserving the trench lines and adding interpretive markers and an overlook. The combination of the original earthworks and the commanding river view makes it both a Civil War site and one of the better vantage points over Parkersburg.
Sources
Fort Boreman's haunting reputation is tied to its garrison history and to the wartime hospital that stood near the hill. Regional haunt-and-legend documentation describes visitors seeing figures of soldiers along the earthworks and hearing low groans on the hilltop, particularly around dusk.
These accounts are anecdotal. They circulate through West Virginia haunt-and-legend coverage and local word of mouth rather than through any sustained investigation record, and we present them as folklore consistent with the kind of stories that attach to Civil War sites where soldiers were stationed and the sick and wounded were treated.
The documented draw is the fort itself: preserved Union trenchwork on a hill that still commands the river junction it was built to defend. Visitors come for the history and the overlook, with the soldier reports as the local lore layered over a real military site. The park is open and public, best walked in daylight when the earthworks and markers are easy to follow.
Notable Entities
Walk the preserved zigzag trenches that ring the hilltop where Company A of the 11th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry built Fort Boreman in 1863 to protect the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Interpretive markers cover the fort's role through the end of the war, and the summit gives a wide view over Parkersburg and the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parkersburg, WV
Quincy Hill, now a Parkersburg city park, was the site of a Civil War tent hospital that treated wounded and sick Union soldiers, including African American and Irish immigrant troops. The encampment was struck by a smallpox epidemic. The hill, originally known as Prospect Hill, is a long-standing subject in local Civil War and haunted-history accounts.
Kure Beach, NC
Fort Fisher was the largest earthwork fortification of the Civil War, built by the Confederacy beginning in 1861 to protect blockade-running traffic into the port of Wilmington. After a failed Christmas Eve 1864 assault, a combined Union land and naval bombardment captured the fort in January 1865. Fort Fisher's fall closed the last open Confederate seaport.
Atlantic Beach, NC
Fort Macon is a Third System brick coastal fort built between 1826 and 1834 to guard Beaufort Inlet on the North Carolina coast, named for U.S. Senator Nathaniel Macon. North Carolina militia seized the fort for the Confederacy in April 1861, and Union forces under Major General Ambrose E. Burnside recaptured it in 1862. It is now the centerpiece of Fort Macon State Park.