[6] The city sits within the Allegheny Mountains above the Cheat River valley.

[7] The site of Kingwood was once a forest owned partly by John Miller and Hugh Morgan.

The Northwestern Turnpike leading from Winchester to Morgantown passed through the area.

[8] Kingwood was settled sporadically in the 1790s and 1800s until it was formally established by the Virginia General Assembly on January 23, 1811.

[11] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.43 square miles (6.29 km2), all land.

[12] It has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) and average monthly temperatures range from 28.7 °F in January to 70.2 °F in July.

The annual Preston County Buckwheat Festival takes place in Kingwood over the last weekend of September.

Farmers in the county grew buckwheat during the Great Depression to stimulate agricultural economic growth, with the festival starting in 1938 as an end-of-harvest celebration.

[15] The festival resembles a county fair, with livestock exhibitions and carnival rides.