Huntersville

Huntersville is a town in the Savage Divide region of Appalachia. The town is the source of the Appalachian super mutants, created when West Tek conducted a secret experiment dumping FEV into the local water supply. The secret, sinister experiment went horribly wrong, creating a scourge on the region that would persist as late as 2104.

Pre-War
Huntersville was originally a small, isolated town in Appalachia, struggling to deal with dirty well water and other problems of living away from developed areas. The town was on the verge of disappearing in early 2075 when West Tek and the government offered it a rural development grant. The town gladly accepted and within three months received a brand-new water recycling system and sewer lines, even hooked into Thomas McDevitt's nearby farm. Things were looking up for Huntersville, especially when the West Tek Research Center was erected outside of town in late August. Nobody batted an eye at a major corporation suddenly establishing itself in backwoods Appalachia, not with the money flowing into Huntersville and economy booming thanks to the researchers.

The town bloomed, with a new bakery set to open in the spring of 2076. Although the West Tek employees made for poor conversation partners, clamming up or ignoring the townsfolk when they tried to befriend the city folk, Huntersville wasn't too bothered by it, as long as the money kept flowing in. Even after West Tek started paying for "testing rights". The flow of commerce suddenly halted in February 2076, after several people fell ill with a strange disease. The town suddenly became quiet as West Tek traffic stopped and more and more people started to become sick. Huntersville farmers petitioned West Tek to lend their hand and treat the sick. However, the situation steadily deteriorated, with West Tek physicians convincing the people of Huntersville that it was just a rare strain of flu, one that made people's skin change color and their hair to fall out. Thomas McDevitt, who asked West Tek for help was nowhere to be seen.

By August, the situation became dire. People started mutating, turning green and becoming deformed. West Tek doctors responded by confining the people of Huntersville to their homes, citing the contagious nature of the "flu" virus and posting guards with hazmat gear throughout the town to keep them safe and contained. Huntersville became a ghost town by November when the 12th Mountain Division was deployed to the town and ordered to enforce the quarantine. They were issued strict orders to follow full containment procedures due to the viral outbreak, citing concerns about a possible pandemic. The hazmat-equipped soldiers augmented the security while West Tek researchers continued their experiments on the population, even as the mutating humans started to turn violent. Although the soldiers found West Tek authority to be detestable, at best, they followed orders and isolated the town with roadblocks and a secure perimeter.

The soldiers were not equipped to deal with the Huntersville horror, especially Sergeant Jake Bianchi. A day into the deployment, he was tasked with leading the extraction of a Huntersvillian for West Tek. They weren't prepared to face feral mutants, one of which lunged at the sergeant with a knife, forcing Private Sanderson to shoot her on the spot. The situation deteriorated rapidly from that point as the population of the town started attacking the barricades and the soldiers. By November 7, the fighting convinced Sgt. Bianchi that something was wrong, that the town was actually a test site and the people used as guinea pigs. He vowed to get to the bottom of the mystery, which earned him a rapid court-martial, charged with gross misconduct, dereliction of duty and insubordination. He was arrested two days later and replaced with the much more pliable Sgt. Orlando Garrett, who showed respect and deference for West Tek.

West Tek's operations in the town were so secret that even the covert surveillance operatives at Sugar Grove were ordered by the Army to cease their operations and leave the town alone on October 7, 2077, leaving the analysts surprised - and curious as to what was so secret that even they weren't supposed to look at it.

Post-War
After the Great War, the raider gang known as the Trappers decided to settle near the Devil's Backbone, a rock formation just outside Huntersville. The group deliberately avoided the town proper, correctly assuming the water there was contaminated.

Meanwhile, the Enclave's leader, Thomas Eckhart, desired to continue the war with China by launching nuclear ICBMs via the Appalachian Automated Launch System. However, in order to do so, the system had to first be tricked to raise the DEFCON rating by making it seem Appalachia was being invaded by an outside force. To do so, the Enclave first sent a scout team to Huntersville, though contact with the unit was lost. A second team was sent to the West Tek research center, who reported that the facility was abandoned, the FEV vats were neutralized, and it would take a science team to scavenge enough data to recreate the "tough, violent, dangerous" mutants that were requested by command. Despite worry from the overseeing officer, the science team was authorized by Eckhart in June 2080. The mission was successful at recreating the mutants, and by December 2082, the mutants began to cause significant issues for Responders near Huntersville.

At some point, the Trappers raider gang also noticed the increased activity in Huntersville and sent a scout. When the scout returned bearing news of "some big 'ol green 'uns," the gang's leader, Walter Griswold, decided to see what was going on for himself. He arrived in time to see the Brotherhood of Steel battling the Huntersville super mutants and fled when it appeared the Brotherhood was losing. Soon after, the gang's camp was attacked by the super mutants. Though successful at repelling the attack, the gang requested additional help from the other raider gangs in the area to stage a counterattack in Huntersville. The reinforcements never arrived, and when the super mutants assaulted the camp again, this time the raid was more successful - Griswold and some of the other Trappers were captured and brought to Huntersville while the rest fled the region.

The fighting between the super mutants and the alliance between the Responders and Brotherhood of Steel culminated in the 2086 Battle of Huntersville. After a rousing speech by the Brotherhood's leader Elizabeth Taggerdy, the alliance was successful at (temporarily) eradicating the mutants in the town, though at a high cost - Brotherhood Paladin Swafford, Brotherhood Squire De Silva, and several other Brotherhood members died and were subsequently buried in a graveyard outside Huntersville.

Huntersville was reoccupied by super mutants at some point after the battle and continues to be occupied by them between 2102 and 2104.

Layout
Huntersville is a small, isolated town stretching alongside State Route 107. The town was isolated by roadblocks to the north and the south, cutting it off from the world. Evidence of such military presence can be seen at both ends. The northern half of the town contains residential houses. The southwestern one, with the red star, belonged to Gail Meyer and contains her terminal that can provide insight into what happened in the town. On the opposite side is a ruined trailer house, adjacent to an old mechanic's garage and military tent. The remains of Walter Griswold lay in the intersection in the center of town.

Around the back is a power armor station with a power armor spawn point. The southern half of the town was the "downtown" area, and contains the ruined hardware store and other buildings, with the generator and water tower in the east. The area is blasted quite thoroughly, first by the mutants and then the Brotherhood/Responders during the battle of Huntersville. The hardware store contains a Vault-Tec bobblehead and a magazine spawn point, with another magazine spawn in the building just east of it. There is also a military terminal by the generator area. The small buildings east and west of Huntersville have the ruined entrance to the town's sewers.

The first trailer northeast of the town's north gate has a chemistry station. Behind the shed northeast of the above trailer is a power armor station.

Southeast of Huntersville, down the state route and past the checkpoint with the tank, is a Brotherhood graveyard with a dead soldier wearing power armor. It is also the final resting place of Squire De Silva and Paladin Swafford. Next to the military checkpoint is a dirt road, leading southwards up a mountain and subsequently into the South Mountain nuke crater.

The east and west sides of the town have active minefields. Taking the trail from the east of the town leads to a massive crater where a large building or group of buildings once stood. It is mildly radioactive and closer to the trail there are buried and/or overturned infantry fighting vehicles and an off-road vehicle.

Notable loot

 * Nina Benchley's note - Note, on a side table on the second floor of the large house closest to the IFV near the hardware store.
 * The Huntersville Incident - Holotape, on the kitchen counter of the brick house southeast of the Hardware Store and IFV.
 * Trappers key fragment - Holotape, on the body of Walter Griswold in the center of town during the mission Key to the Past.
 * Graveyard note - Both notes can be found pinned to grave markers at the Brotherhood graveyard. They can be read, but cannot be taken.
 * Cell key W9-FZ - In the frame of a bed in the two-story house with a fallen tree in the backyard. Opens a cell door in the Sugar Grove Blacksite.
 * Two potential Vault-Tec bobbleheads:
 * Inside the hardware store, above the Plumbing sign near the collapsed roof.
 * Inside Gail Meyer's home (half destroyed house with blue siding, a red roof, and a red star), on the floor of the attic. Accessible by walking up the fallen tree to the very top, then jumping across to the ledge.
 * Two potential magazines:
 * Inside the hardware store, on the curved counter to the left of the blue cash register.
 * Inside the ruined home across the street from the hardware store with the green propane tank visible next to the blown-out kitchen, under the bed hanging off the edge of the upper floor.
 * Potential power armor spawns:
 * Partial suit, behind the northeastern garage at the power armor station.
 * Partial suit, at the Brotherhood of Steel graveyard at the southeast corner of town.
 * Potential workshop plan - Inside a house trailer, on a blue barrel opposite of a chemistry station.
 * Fusion core - In a generator near the water tower in the east part of town.
 * Giddyup Buttercup toy parts - Attic ledge of the destroyed two story house in the north part of town. The house has a pink toilet and two photos of deer and a duck on the second floor.

Appearances
Huntersville appears only in Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes
Huntersville is a real-life census-designated place in West Virginia with a population of 73, located east of Watoga.