Pickens is a census-designated place (CDP) in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States.

[3] In 1891, George M. Whitescarver (1831-1914), a railroad official and coal and timber magnate, along with several other investors, purchased a large tract of land in Randolph County from James Pickens, Jr.

Here they built several planing mills and a sawmill that had a capacity of ten million feet per year.

Pickens was founded and named the following year, by which time the railroad had been extended to that point.

[5] The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round.