Grantville was a West Virginia coal mining town that was transported through time and space from the year 2000 to central Germany in the year 1631. Grantville occupies the same spot on the map of West Virginia as the real-world town of Mannington. It is modeled on Mannington as it existed in the spring of 2000, though it is not an exact copy. The small community of Rachel, located 2 miles (3.2 km) east-southeast of Mannington, is possibly the basis for Grantville's satellite community of Deborah.