The town is best known for the Mothman, a purported humanoid creature reportedly sighted in the area that has become a part of West Virginia folklore.

The text on the plaque is as follows: Céloron's expedition was a diplomatic failure since the local tribes remained pro-British, and British representatives refused to leave.

This incident was the prelude to conflicts between the French and British in North America that would lead to the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754 (as part of the Seven Years' War) that would lead to the cessation of New France to the British and the ultimate expulsion of France from most of its possessions in North America.

"[11] In the Battle of Point Pleasant (October 10, 1774), fought on the future site of the town, over one thousand Virginia militiamen, led by Colonel Andrew Lewis (1720–1781), defeated a roughly equal force of an Algonquin confederation of Shawnee and Mingo warriors led by Shawnee Chief Cornstalk (c. 1720–1777).

"Camp Point Pleasant" was established by Col. Lewis at the time of the Battle, and the settlement that followed also took that name.

Before that, hostilities between whites and Native Americans all along the Ohio River Valley probably precluded the possibility of settlement in the absence of a substantial stockade.

George Washington's 1770 journey to the Ohio River Valley had been occasioned by military grants that had been awarded by proclamation in 1754 by Governor Dinwiddie to officers and soldiers who had served in the French and Indian War.

Fort Randolph was rebuilt nearby in 1785 after the renewal of hostilities between the United States government and Native Americans, but it saw little action and was eventually abandoned once again.

According to historian Virgil A. Lewis, "Point Pleasant did not flourish for many years [after the turn of the century].

There was a popular superstition that because of the fiendish murder of Cornstalk there in 1777, the place was laid under a curse for a hundred years".

It is, however, a considerable place of embarkation for those descending the Ohio from the back and western parts of Virginia.

Meanwhile, William W. Newman claimed to represent Mason and nearby Jackson, Cabell, Wayne, and Wirt counties throughout the war.

[17] In March 1863, in the only wartime skirmish in Point Pleasant, during the Jones-Imboden Raid, the 6th Virginia Cavalry and 8th Virginia Cavalry attacked the Mason County Courthouse, where they believed munitions stored, leaving bullet holes in the walls until a replacement was built in 1954.

[18] Point Pleasant was widely noted for the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge, which killed 46 people.

The town of Point Pleasant was situated over the site of the fort and so the replica is located at Krodel Park, about one mile away.

Paranormal enthusiasts flock to Point Pleasant in search of Mothman, a creature said to be a harbinger of imminent disaster that inhabits an abandoned TNT factory from World War II.

John Keel published a book in 1975 entitled The Mothman Prophecies, and a film inspired by the novel was released in January 2002.