It is situated on high bluffs along U.S. Route 60 on a portion of the Midland Trail (a National Scenic Byway) near Hawks Nest overlooking the New River far below.

The area of what is now southern West Virginia was long a hunting ground for nomadic tribes of Native-Americans before the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century.

The first county court was held that same year at Miles Manser's general store which stood nearby Ansted's current location along the James River and Kanawha Turnpike, an early roadway built to connect the canals on the James and Kanawha Rivers.

During the winter of 1861–62, the Union Army's Chicago Gray Dragoons (later, Companies H and I of the 12th Illinois Cavalry)[7] made the Halfway House (Tyree Tavern) in what is now Ansted their headquarters.

Many Union troops felt they were fighting the moral issue of slavery, although many Fayette County citizens had Confederate sympathies and so sent no delegate to the Wheeling Convention.

Imboden had begun speculating in coal lands in southern West Virginia after the war's end, and attracted British investors.

Dr. Ansted, a noted geologist, had been engaged to investigate the region's potential for coal deposits, and his report far exceeded Imboden's best expectations.

Ansted and Imboden bought more than a thousand acres (4 km2) of coal and timber land on Gauley Mountain between Hawks Nest and the town of Westlake.

Contentment had been built about 1830 on the James River and Kanawha Turnpike in the west end of what is now Ansted, and they acquired it in 1872.

A civil engineer, protégé of Dr. Ansted, and mining manager, Page helped develop West Virginia's rich bituminous coal fields in the late 19th and early 20th century.

In 1874, mine owners had a narrow-gauge railroad built from Hawks Nest Station up the ravine of Mill Creek.

In 1889, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the narrow-gauge railroad and contracted with William Page to do the work to upgrade the line to standard gauge, which was completed on August 20, 1890.

After congressional hearings, the Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster led to recognition of occupational lung disease as well as compensation legislation, as acknowledged by a historical marker on the site.

The trail is 2.2 miles (3.5 km) in length and the aerial tram from Hawks Nest Lodge links to the terminus.

The mansion of William and Emma Page and their family on the hilltop in Ansted also still stands as evidence of the once-thriving coal business.

Later occupied by the family of Dr. Gene Vawter, and still in use as a private residence, the Page-Vawter House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Thomas Davis Ranson, one of the soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, to mark his troops' affection for their fallen leader.

The park at Hawks Nest features a small museum and gift shop, an aerial tram ride to the New River Gorge, and spectacular overlooks including the famous "Lover's Leap".

Ansted also hosted annual Street Luge PRO-AM in the late 1990s, a competition on the largest hill in the area, Gauley Mountain.

In the early 2000s the county's largest flagpole and American Flag was built in the town, which added in 2007 a war memorial through donations, that has the name, rank, and period served of some local military veterans.