Map of Rainelle town

Rainelle is a town on the western edge of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, United States. It sits at the base of Sewell Mountain and Sims Mountain, and is bisected by the Meadow River. The only means of transportation to and from Rainelle are roads; primarily US 60 and WV 20, which merge on the western end of the town, and the James River and Kanawha Turnpike, which enters from the south. The population was 1,190 at the 2020 census.

Rainelle town overview:
Name:	Rainelle town
LSAD Code:	43
LSAD Description:	town (suffix)
State:	West Virginia
County:	Greenbrier County
Incorporated:	April 25, 1913
Elevation:	2,395 ft (730 m)
Total Area:	1.12 sq mi (2.89 km²)
Land Area:	1.11 sq mi (2.88 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.01 km²)
Total Population:	1,190
Population Density:	1,365.68/sq mi (527.34/km²)
Area code:	304/681
FIPS code:	5466652
GNISfeature ID:	2391381
Website:	http://www.rainelle-wv.com

Online Interactive Map

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Rainelle online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Rainelle location map. Where is Rainelle town?

Rainelle location on the U.S. Map. Where is Rainelle town. — Rainelle location on the U.S. Map.

Rainelle location on the West Virginia map. Where is Rainelle town. — Location of Rainelle in West Virginia.

History

The valley and community that contain and predates Rainelle is named Sewell Valley after Stephen Sewell, a scout that settled in the area in the 1750s. The community west of the Meadow River first applied for the name Raine in honor of the Raine family but was turned down by the Post Office Department. They adopted the name Rainelle in 1909. Thomas W. Raine and his brother John moved to the location from Pennsylvania in 1906 to harvest a large stand of hardwoods for building homes, etc. Their Meadow River Lumber Company operated for 60 years, and at one time was the largest hardwood sawmill in the world. In 1970, the owners sold it to Georgia-Pacific Corporation, which tore it down in 1975.

The town has suffered from several natural disasters in the last decade: most notable of these have been the June 2012 North American derecho, Hurricane Sandy, and the 2016 West Virginia flood. Rebuilding and demolition of structures damaged in the 2016 flood was still in progress in January 2020. Homes rebuilt with funds from the federal Hazard Mitigation Grant program were required to be sited two feet above the 100-year floodplain.