The town of Beverly, with a 2010 population of 702, is located where Files Creek joins the Tygart Valley River as it flows toward Elkins, six miles to the north. Previously known as Edmonton, the village became the first county seat of Randolph County upon the county's founding in 1787. It was renamed Beverly in honor of the governor of Virginia, Beverley Randolph, and chartered in 1790. Beverly was a political, economic, and social center of Randolph and surrounding counties until the loss of the county seat to Elkins in 1899.

Beverly, located on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, lay at a strategic highway junction. The Civil War, from the time of the nearby battle at Rich Mountain in 1861 to Rosser's Raid on the town in 1865, disrupted local life. Beverly suffered much damage in the course of the war, while serving as an important supply and command post for thousands of federal troops serving in eastern West Virginia.

Prominent citizens of Beverly include Lemuel Chenoweth, the builder of covered bridges including the Philippi Bridge, and Laura Jackson Arnold, the sister of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Today, the town is the location of the Colonial Millworks and Bruce Hardwood Floors. The Beverly Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Read the National Register nomination.