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New Cumberland, the first city west of the Alleghenies to have a furnace for processing iron, has the distinction of having been the place where the cannonballs were made that Commodore Perry fired from the guns on his ships in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. New Cumberland is the government site for Hancock County. Originally it was called brick Bend because of its many brickyards and pottery works. The city was begun in 1784 and the settlement was called Cuppytown for its founder John Cuppy. In 1839 it was platted on the site of Fort CHapman, and renamed. It was in 1794 that Peter Tarr built the iron processing furnace. His grandson, Campbell Tarr, was the first treasurer of the new state of West Virginia. Hancock County is at the tip of the Northern Panhandle. It is an industrial region. Products manufactured include steel, clay, chemicals, and cement. There are coal mines and glass-sand pits. Hancock County, the smallest county in the state, was founded in 1848. Only 89 square miles of land area are contained in the county's boundaries. Tomlinson Run State Park is located here. Named for John Hancock, Hancock County is the leading steel producing county in the state. John Hancock was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, and served from 1780 to 1785 as the first Governor of Massachusetts. |
