Grafton is the county seat for Taylor County. The county is 177 square miles of land that features Tygart Lake State Park and the Grafon Dam. Grafton has always been known as a railroad town with ties to the B & O Railroad before the civil war started. The city of Grafton was a strategic point in the civil war due to the railroads. In June on 1861, Gen. Thomas J. Morris commanded 4,000 union troops as he moved south toward the battle of Philippi. General McClellan also established headquarters in Grafton that same year.
Taylor County is also the birthplace of Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day.
The Mother's Day Shrine is located in downtown Grafton. Taylor County also has a National Cemetery which is the final resting place for many of the civil war soldiers who served during the war.
Pruntytown indutrial home for boys is located outside of Grafton. The prison was originally built in the 1890s to provide training for criminals and is now used to hold minimum security inmates.
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