It is situated on the east bank of the Ohio River along West Virginia Route 2, some 13.5 miles (21.7 km) south of Point Pleasant.

On modern maps, it generally occupies a two-mile stretch of Route 2 between Apple Grove (on the north) and Ashton (on the south).

According to Hardesty's West Virginia Counties (1883): All that part of the district lying on the Ohio river bottoms above Eighteen-mile Creek, was included in the grant made by Congress to the heirs of General Mercer, who was killed at the battle of Princeton, New Jersey, January 3, 1777, while fighting by the side of Washington; hence the name Mercer Bottom.

Andrew Fleming and a Mr. Mercer, two hunters, had previously erected a cabin on the land which he purchased, and this was occupied by him until he could build a better one.

Born in Fairfax County, Virginia in 1758, Hereford moved to Mercers Bottom in 1808, served as magistrate and sheriff, and died there in 1846.