Get to know Charles Town

Charles Town, a charming, historic city that’s about 90 minutes west of downtown Washington, D.C., is a smaller, rural sibling to the big city, existing at the very far edges of the D.C. Metropolitan area. The sibling comparison is not just metaphorical but rooted in the history of the two towns: Charles Town was founded by Charles Washington, the youngest brother of President George Washington, the Founding Father for whom Washington, D.C., was named. People looking for more space and more affordable housing often consider Charles Town and the rest of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle as an alternative to D.C.’s inner suburbs. Bucolic and beautiful, Charles Town and its neighbors of Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown, and Martinsburg all offer small-town living with reasonable access to the Beltway. Amtrak has stops on the Capitol Limited in Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg, while MARC operates a train between Martinsburg and Washington, D.C.

Living in the Washington Metropolitan Area

The Washington Metropolitan Area starts with the District of Columbia proper and radiates out to the inner suburbs of Virginia and Maryland and stretches all the way to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Colloquially, many locals refer to the region as the DMV, an abbreviation for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, but will often just say they live in D.C. when they technically have an address in one of the states. Each town has its own specific atmosphere and residents — even the newly transplanted — often display fierce loyalty to their own suburb of choice. Generally, towns that are closer to D.C., especially those inside the Beltway, have more access to public transportation and more pedestrian-friendly downtowns, while towns on the far reaches of the metropolitan area like Charles Town, West Virginia, will have a more rural feel and fewer daily commuters to D.C. and its immediate environs.