1. Introduction
West Virginia, endlessly covered with forests and known as the
"Mountain State," offers breathtaking scenery, natural resource-related
sights, and year-round, outdoor activities.
Once rich in
coal and timber, it was shaped by the mines and logging railroads which
extracted them, but when decades of removal began to deplete these
commodities, their rolling, green-carpeted mountains yielded secondary
byproducts—namely, hiking, biking, fishing, rafting, climbing, and
hunting to tourists and sports enthusiasts alike. Its New River Gorge,
which offers many similar activities, is equally beautiful with its
rugged banks and azure surfaces, while the principle city of Charleston,
revitalized during the 1970s and 1980s, now features museums, art,
shopping malls, restaurants, and world-class performance venues.
2. Charleston
Located on the Kanawha River, and sporting an easily negotiable
street grid system, it is subdivided into the Capitol Complex and the
downtown area with the East End Historic District linking the two.
From the former, which is the heart of state government, juts the
ubiquitously visible, gold-domed Capitol Building itself. Constructed
of buff Indiana limestone and 4,640 tons of steel, which themselves
required the temporary laying of a spur rail line to transport them, the
building had been laid in three stages during an eight-year period:
1924 to 1925 for the west wing, 1926 to 1927 for the east wing, and 1930
to 1932 for the connecting rotunda. It was officially dedicated by
Governor William G. Conley on June 20, 1932, on the occasion of West
Virginia's 69th birthday as a state.
Its gold dome, which extends five feet higher than that of the
Capitol in Washington, is gilded in 23 ½-karat gold leaf, applied
between 1988 and 1991 as tiny squares to cover the otherwise copper and
lead surface.
Two-thirds of its interior, which encompasses 535,000 square feet
subdivided into 333 rooms, is comprised of Italian travertine, imperial
derby, and Tennessee marble, and the chandelier in the rotunda, its
center piece, is made of 10,180 pieces of Czechoslovakian crystal
illuminated by 96 light bulbs. Weighing 4,000 pounds, it hangs from a
54-foot brass and bronze chain.
Across from the State Capitol, but still within the complex, is the
West Virginia Cultural Center. Opened in 1976 and operated by the West
Virginia Division of Culture and History, it was created to showcase the
state's artistic, cultural, and historical heritage, and houses the
West Virginia State Museum, the archives and history library, a gift
shop, and a venue for cultural events, performances, and related
programs.
The former, a collection of items which represents the state's land,
people, and culture, is subdivided into 24 significant scenes covering
five periods: Prehistory (3 million years BC to 1650 AD), Frontier
(1754-1860), the Civil War and the 35th State (1861 to 1899),
Industrialization (1900 to 1945), and Change and Tradition (1954 to the
21st century). The 24 representations themselves trace the state's
evolution and include such periods as "Coal Forest," "River Plains,"
"Wilderness," "The Fort," "Harper's Ferry," "Building the Rails," "Coal
Mine," "Main Street, West Virginia," and "New River Gorge."
Thirteen monuments, memorials, and statues honoring West Virginians
for their contributions to the state and the nation grace the Capitol
Complex's landscaped grounds.
Culture can also be experienced at the Clay Center for the Arts and
Sciences, a modern, 240,000-square-foot, three-level complex which
opened on July 12, 2003 and represents one of the most ambitious
economic, cultural, and educational projects in West Virginia's
history. Offering sciences, visual arts, and performing arts under a
single roof, the center houses the dual-level Avampato Discovery Museum,
an interactive, youth-oriented experience with sections such as Health
Royale, KidSpace, Earth City, and Gizmo Factory. A 9,000-square-foot
Art Gallery, located on the second floor, features both temporary and
permanent exhibits, the latter emphasizing 19th and 20th century art by
names such as Andy Warhol, Stuart Davis, Alexander Calder, Frank Stella,
Vida Frey, and Albert Paley. The ElectricSky Theater, a 61-foot domed
planetarium, offers daily astronomy shows and wide screen
presentations. Live performances are staged in two locations: the
1,883-seat Maier Foundation Performance Hall, which is home to the West
Virginia Symphony Orchestra, but otherwise offers a variety of
performance types, from comedy to popular singers, bands, repertory, and
Broadway plays, and the 200-seat Walker Theater, which features plays
and dances with cabaret-style seating for the Woody Hawley
singer-songwriter program. The Douglas V. Reynolds Intermezzo Café and
three classrooms are located on the lower level
marked cards.
Shopping can be done at two major venues. The Charleston Town Center
Mall, located adjacent to the Town Center Marriott and Embassy Suites
Hotel, and near the Civic Center, is a one million square foot,
tri-level complex with more than 130 stores, three anchor department
stores, six full-service restaurants, and a food court with ten
additional fast food venues, and is accessed through three convenient
parking garages. Sporting a three-story atrium and fountain, the
upscale, Kanawha Valley complex was the largest urban shopping center
east of the Mississippi River when it opened in 1983.
The Capitol Market, located on Capitol and Sixth Streets in the
restored and converted, 1800s Kanawha and Michigan Railroad depot, is
subdivided into both in- and outdoor markets, the latter of which can
only be used by bonafide farmers and receives daily, fresh, seasonal
deliveries, usually consisting of flowers, shrubs, and trees in the
spring; fruits and vegetables in the summer; pumpkins, gourds, and
cornstalks in the fall; and Christmas trees, wreaths, and garlands in
the winter. The indoor market sells seafood, cheeses, and wines, and
offers several small food stands and a full-service Italian restaurant.
An evening can be spent at the TriState Racetrack and Gaming Center.
Located a 15-minute drive from Charleston in Cross Lanes, the venue
offers 90,000 square feet of gaming entertainment, inclusive of more
than 1,300 slot machines, live racing, a poker room, blackjack,
roulette, and craps, and four restaurants: the French Quarter Restaurant
and Bar, the First Turn Restaurant, the Café Orleans, and Crescent
City. The adjacent, Mardi Gras-style hotel was completed in 2010.
3. Potomac Highlands
The Potomac Highlands, located in the eastern portion of the state on
the Allegheny Plateau, is a tapestry of diverse geographic regions and
covers eight counties. Alternatively designated "Mountain Highlands,"
it had been formed some 250 million years ago when the North American
and African continental collision had produced a single, uplifted mass.
Subjected to millennia of wind- and water-caused erosion, it resulted
in successive valleys and parallel ridges, and today the area
encompasses two national forests: Canaan Valley, the highest east of the
Mississippi River, and Spruce Knob, at 4,861 feet, West Virginia's
highest point. Its green-covered mountains yielded abundant timber, the
logging railroads necessary to harness it, two premier ski resorts, and
a myriad of outdoor sports and activities.
The Potomac Highlands can be subdivided into the Tygart Valley, Seneca Rocks, Canaan Valley, and Big Mountain Country.
A. Tygart Valley
The town of Elkins, located in the Tygart Valley, is the
transportation, shopping, and social center of the east central
Appalachian Mountains and serves as a base for Potomac Highland
excursions.
Established in 1890 by Senators Henry Gassaway Davis and Stephen. B.
Elkins, his son-in-law and business partner, it originated as a shipping
hub for their coal, timber, and railroad empire, the latter the result
of their self-financed construction of the West Virginia Central
Railroad, whose track stretched between Cumberland, Maryland, and
Elkins, and served as the threshold to some of the world's richest
timber and mineral resources.
The town, serving the needs of the coal miners, loggers, and railroad
workers, sprouted central maintenance shops and steadily expanded,
peaking in 1920, before commencing a resource depletion-caused decline,
until the last train, carrying coal and timber products to the rest of
the country, departed the depot in 1959.
The tracks lay barren and unused for almost half a century until
2007, when the newly-established Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad
again resurrected them—and the town—transporting the first tourists for
scenic-ride purposes and resparking a slow growth cycle with a
subsequently built restaurant and live theater in its historic Elkins
Railyard and additional hotels nearby. Consistently ranked as one of
the country's best small art towns, it is once again the service hub of
the Mountain Highlands, reverting to its original purpose of providing
hotel, restaurant, shop, and entertainment services, but now to a new
group—tourists.
The railroad remains its focus. The Durbin and Greenbrier Valley
Railroad offers three departures from the Elkins depot. The first of
these, the "New Tygart Flyer," is a four-hour, 46-mile round-trip run
which plunges through the Cheat Mountain Tunnel, passes the towns of
Bowdon and Bemis, parallels the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River, and
stops at the horseshoe-shaped High Falls of Cheat, during which time it
serves an enroute, buffet luncheon. Upgraded table service is available
in 1922-ear deluxe Pullman Palace cars for a slightly higher price.
The "Cheat Mountain Salamander" is a nine-hour, 128-mile round-trip
to Spruce, and includes a buffet lunch and dinner, while the "Mountain
Express Dinner Train" mimics the New Tygart Flyer's route, but features a
four-course meal in a formally set dining car.
The Railyard Restaurant, sandwiched between the Elkins depot and the
American Mountain Theater, provides all on board meals. Emulating the
depot itself with its exterior brick construction, the $2.5 million,
220-seat restaurant, leased to the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley
Railroad, serves family-style cuisine on its main level and upscale
dinners in its second-floor Vista Dome Dining Room, its menus inspired
by railroad car fare from the 1920s to the 1940s. It toted the opening
slogan of, "Take the track to the place with exceptional taste."
The Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad's Rails and Trails Gift Shop is located on its main level.
Continuing the historic, red brick exterior, the adjacent American
Mountain Theater, founded in 2003 by Elkins native and RCA recording
artist, Susie Heckel, traces its origins to a variety show performed for
tourists at a different location. But increasing demand merited the
November, 2006, ground-braking for a $1.7 million, 12,784-square-foot,
525-seat structure with aid from her sister, Beverly Sexton, and her
husband, Kenny, who owned the Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down Theater in Eureka
Springs, Arkansas.
Opening the following July, the theater offered family-oriented,
Branson-style entertainment performed by a nine-member cast, with Kenny
Sexton serving as its president and producer and Beverly writing the
score. Two-hour evening shows include comedy, impressions, and country,
gospel, bluegrass, and pop music.
Davis and Elkins College, located only a few blocks from the Historic
Railyard, shares the same founders as the town of Elkins itself—namely,
Senators Henry Gassaway Davis and Stephen B. Elkins. Established in
1901 when they donated land and funding to create a college associated
with the Presbyterian Church, it was originally located south of town.
Its Board of Trustees first met the following year and classes were
first held on September 21, 1904.
Today, the coeducational, liberal arts college, located on a 170-acre
hilled, wooded campus with views of the Appalachian Mountains, is
comprised of 22 new and historic buildings in two sections—the north,
which stretches to the athletic fields and the front campus, which is
located on a ridge overlooking Elkins. Thirty associate and
baccalaureate arts, sciences, pre-professional, and professional degree
programs are offered to a 700-student base.
One of its historic buildings is Graceland Inn. Designed by the
Baltimore architectural firm of Baldwin and Pennington, the castle-like,
Queen Anne-style mansion, originally located on a 360-acre farm, was
completed in 1893. Initially called "Mingo Moor," and intermittently
"Mingo Hall" after the area south of Elkins, the estate served as the
summer residence of Senator Davis, who regularly transported a train of
invited friends and associates during July and August so that they could
escape the Washington heat and enjoy Elkins' higher-elevation, cooler
temperatures.
The estate was ultimately renamed "Graceland" after Davis' youngest
daughter, Grace. Following his wife's death in 1902, he continued to
conduct business from offices inside it, while Grace herself resided
there during the summer months with her family.
The estate was finally ceded to her own children, Ellen Bruce Lee and John A. Kennedy, its last two owners.
Acquired by the West Virginia Presbyterian Education Fund in 1941, it
was used as a male residence hall by the college until 1970, whereafter
it was closed. Restored during the mid-1990s, it subsequently reopened
as an historic country inn and as a dynamic learning lab for
hospitality students.
Overlooking the town of Elkins, on the Davis and Elkins College
campus, Graceland Inn, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, features a two-story great hall richly decorated with hardwoods,
such as quartered oak, bird's eye maple, cherry, and walnut, a grand
staircase, a parlor, a library, and its original stained glass windows.
The Mingo Room Restaurant, reflecting the mansion's initial designation
and open to the public, is subdivided into four small rooms lined with
red oak and fireplaces and an outdoor verandah, and eleven guest rooms,
located on the second and third floors and named after prominent family
members, contain antiques, Victorian reproductions, turrets, canopy
beds, sleigh beds, armoires, marble bathrooms, and claw foot tubs.
Graceland Inn, the David and Elkins College, the town of Elkins
itself, the historic depot and railyard, their tracks, and the
Appalachian Mountain's coal and timber resources are all inextricably
tied to the town's past--and its future.
B. Seneca Rocks
"Seneca Rocks" designates both a region of the Potomac Highlands and the outcroppings after which that region is named.
Resembling a razor back, or shark's fin, and located at the
confluence of the Seneca Creek and the North Fork South Branch Potomac
River, the 250-foot-thick, 900-foot-high Seneca Rocks, accessible by
West Virginia Route 28, were formed 400 million years ago during the
Silurian Period in an extensive sand shoal at the edge of the ancient
Iapetus Ocean. As the seas decreased in size, the rock uplifted and
folded, erosion ultimately wearing away its upper surface and leaving
the arching folds and craggy profile they exhibit today.
Made of white and gray tuscarora quartzite, the formation features both a north and south peak, with a notch separating the two.
The current Seneca Rocks Discovery Center, which replaced the
original visitor's center, features relief models of the area, films,
interpretive programs, and a bookshop.
A path leads to the Sites Homestead, part of the center. Constructed
in 1839 by William Sites as a single-room log cabin below Seneca Rocks
Ridge, it is typical of then-current Appalachian homes whose German
Blockbau-style featured square logs and v-notched corner joints spread
apart by stone and clay chinks. Its small casement windows were equally
of German origin, while its "hall and parlor" floor plan reflected
English style. Chimney location indicated house location:
northern-style dwellings incorporated internal ones and southern style
homes sported external ones.
In the late-1860s, one of Sites' sons expanded the homestead, adding a
second floor, and, after use as a hay barn, the Forest Service
purchased it in 1969, restoring it during the 1980s. In 1993, it was
added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The greater Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area,
offering significant outdoor sports opportunities, contains a key
portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, whose mountains and forests
collect water which then flows into the Potomac River and the bay
itself. Acting as a cleansing and filtering mechanism, its headwater
forests purify the water before it reaches the streams. Spruce Knob is
both the highest point in the Chesapeake Watershed and the entire state
of West Virginia.
Aside from facilitating water, the area has provided sustenance to
humans, who first lived in Native American villages within its
mountains, and then created farming settlements and logging camps,
extracting its resources and supporting life for some 13,000 years.
Today, it is home to 15 million people.
The Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area itself is part
of the much larger Monongahela National Forest. Established in 1920
with an initial 7,200 acres, the present 910,155-acre forest contains
the headwaters of the Monongahela, Potomac, Greenbrier, Elk, Tygart, and
Gauley Rivers; five federally-designated "wildernesses"—Dolly Sods,
Outer Creek, Laurel Fork North, Laurel Fork South, and Cranberry—whose
very remote and primitive areas only offer lower-standard trail
markings; and four lakes.
A Mecca for outdoor sports enthusiasts, the national forest features
169 hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails which cover more than
800 miles, 576 miles of trout streams, 129 miles of warm-water fishing,
23 campgrounds, 17 picnic areas, and wildlife viewing of black bear,
wild turkey, white-tailed deer, gray fox, rabbits, snowshoe hare,
grouse, and woodcock.
C. Canaan Valley
Blanketed with bigtooth aspen, balsam fir, and spruce, Canaan Valley,
stretching 14 miles, is the highest such valley east of the Mississippi
River, its namesake mountain separating it from the Blackwater River
and creating a deep, narrow canyon in the Allegheny Plateau.
The pristinely beautiful area encompasses two state parks—Canaan
Valley Resort and Black Water Falls State Parks; two ski areas—again
Canaan Valley Resort and Timberline Four Seasons Resort; and the
nation's 500th wildlife refuge.
Natural sports abound: hiking, horseback riding, fishing, golfing,
swimming, rafting, and interpretive nature walking during the summer,
and skiing, snowboarding, and tubing during the winter
cheat poker.
Nucleus of most of this is 6,000-acre Canaan Valley Resort State
Park, which encompasses 18 miles of trails, wetlands, open meadows,
northern hardwood forests, wildlife, 200 species of birds, and 600 types
of wildflowers.
Canaan Valley Resort, located within the park, offers 250 modern
guest rooms, 23 two-, three-, and four-bedroom mountain cabins with
fireplaces and full kitchens, 34 paved, wooded campsites with full
hook-ups, and six lounges and restaurants, including the Hickory Dining
Room in the main lodge.
Its 4,280-foot mountain, whose longest run is 1.25 miles and whose
vertical drop is 850 feet, features one quad and two triple lifts, and
11 trails for night skiing. Its winter activities, like those of the
extended Canaan Valley, include skiing, snowboarding, airboarding,
tubing, snowshoeing, and ice skating, while summer programs include
scenic chairlift rides, guided walks, golf, tennis, and hiking.
D. Big Mountain Country
Big Mountain County, location of West Virginia's second-highest peak,
serves as the birthplace of eight rivers—the Greenbier, Gauley, Cheat,
Cherry, Elk, Williams, Cranberry, and Tygart—while its Seneca State
Forest, which borders the former in Pocahontas County, is the state's
oldest. An interesting array of sights include steam-powered logging
railroads, astronomical observatories, preserved towns, a premier ski
resort, and their associated assortment of outdoor sports and
activities.
The Durbin and Greenbier Valley Railroad's fourth excursion train,
the "Durbin Rocket," departs from the town of Durbin itself, located
some 40 miles from Elkins.
Powered by a 55-ton steam engine built for the Moore-Keppel Lumber
Company in nearby Randolph County, and one of only three remaining
geared Climax logging locomotives, the train makes a two-hour, 11-mile
round-trip run along the Greenbier River and through the Monongahela
National Forest as far as Piney Island, where the rental "castaway
caboose" is disconnected and pushed onto a very short spur track for a
one or more night stay.
The ultra-modern, high-tech National Radio Astronomy Observatory,
located a short distance away in Green Bank, offers an opportunity to
learn about radio wave astronomy.
Designing, building, and operating the world's most advanced and
sophisticated radio telescopes, the observatory produces images of
celestial bodies, such as planets, stars, and galaxies, millions of
light-years away by recording their radio omission quantities.
The Green Bank Science Center, nucleus of this experience, features a
museum which introduces the science of radio astronomy, radio waves,
telescope operation, and what is being learned through them about the
universe; the Galaxy Gift Shop; the Starlight Café; and the departure
point for the escorted bus tour of the facility, prior to which an
introductory film and lecture are presented in the theater.
The tour's highlight is the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
(GBT), designed when the previous 300-foot device collapsed in 1988 and
Congress was forced to appropriate emergency funds to design it.
Dedicated on August 25, 2000, after a nine-year development period,
it is 485 feet tall, is comprised of 2,004 panels, has a 100-by-110
meter diameter, a 2.3 acre surface area, and weighs 17 million pounds.
The world's largest, fully maneuverable telescope with a
computer-controlled reflecting surface, it is functionally independent
of the sun, permitting 24-hour-per-day operation, and receives
wavelengths which vary between 1/8th of an inch to nine feet.
Initially employed in conjunction with the Arecibo Observatory to
produce images of Venus, it later detected three new pulsars (spinning
neutron stars) in the Messier 62 region.
A 15-minute drive from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory is another significant sight, Cass Scenic Railroad State Park.
Tracing its origins to 1899 when John G. Luke acquired more than
67,000 acres of red spruce in an area which ultimately developed into
the town of Cass, it became the headquarters of the West Virginia Pulp
and Paper Company. The town, supporting the workforce needed to convert
the raw resources into finished products, sprouted shops, services,
houses, a sawmill, tracks, and a railroad to haul the timber.
Instrumental to the operation had been the Shay, or
similarly-designed Climax and Heisler steam locomotives, whose direct
gearing delivered positive control and more even power, allowing them to
ply often temporarily-laid tracks, steep grades, and hairpin turns, all
the while pulling heavy, freshly-felled timber loads. The Western
Maryland #6, at 162 tons, was the last, and heaviest, Shay locomotive
ever built. The railroad inaugurated its first service in 1901.
During two 11-hour, six-day-per-week shifts, the town's mill was able
to cut more than 125,000 board feet of lumber per shift and dry 360,000
per run with its 11 miles of steam pipes, adding up to 1.5 million
board feet cut per week and 35 million per year. After 40 years of
milling at Cass and Spruce, more than two billion board feet of lumber
and paper had been produced.
Operating until 1943, the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company sold
the enterprise to the Mower Lumber Company, which maintained it for
another 17 years, at which time it was closed and purchased by the state
of West Virginia, in 1961.
The railroad and the town of Cass, which remain virtually unchanged, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Aside from the historic buildings, there are several other
attractions. Connected to the large Cass Company Store is the
railroad-themed Last Run Restaurant. Turn-of-the-century logging can be
gleaned at the Cass Historical Museum. The Shay Railroad Shop, having
once housed coal bins, offers additional books and crafts for sale. The
metal, Cass Showcase building above it, having stored hay to feed horse
teams, features an introductory film and an HO-scale train and town
layout reflecting their 1930s appearance.
Escorted walking tours of Cass, usually conducted in the afternoon
after the trains have returned from their daily excursions, offer
insight into what it had been like to live and work in a
turn-of-the-century company town, while the Locomotive Repair Shop tour
includes visits to the Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical
Association's shop, the sawmill area, and a look at Shay and Climax
locomotive maintenance and repair.
An excursion on the Cass Scenic Railroad itself, which commenced
tourist rides in 1963 and is therefore the longest-running scenic rail
journey in the country, is a living history experience. Pulled by one
of the original Shay or Climax steam locomotives, the train accommodates
passengers in equally authentic logging cars which have been converted
to coaches with wooden, bench-like seats and roofs, while a single
enclosed car, offering reserved seating, sports booth-like accommodation
and is designated "Leatherbark Creek."
All trains depart from Cass's reconstructed depot, at a 2,456-foot
elevation, climbing Leatherneck Run, negotiating 11-percent grades,
maneuvering and reversing through a lower and upper switchback, and
arriving at Whittaker Station, which features a snack stand, views of
the eastern West Virginia mountains, and a reconstructed, 1946 logging
camp. The eight-mile round-trip back to Cass requires two hours.
A four-and-a-half hour, 22-mile round-trip continues up Back
Allegheny Mountain, passing Old Spruce and the Oats Creek Water Tank,
and plying track laid by the Mower Lumber company, before reaching
4,842-foot Bald Knob, West Virginia's third-highest peak.
Limited runs are also offered to Spruce, an abandoned logging town on
the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River. This train also transits
Whittaker Station.
Although not affiliated with the Cass Scenic Railroad, the Boyer
Station Restaurant, located six miles from Green Bank on Route 28,
offers inexpensive, home-cooked, country-style meals amidst railroad
décor with wooden, rail depot-reminiscent tables and benches, train and
logging memorabilia, and large-scale, track-mounted model railroads. It
is part of a 20-room motel and campground complex.
Winter sports account for a significant portion of the Big Mountain
Country's offerings. Ten miles from Cass Scenic Railroad State Park is
Snowshoe Mountain.
Located in the bowl-shaped convergence of Cheat and Back Allegheny
Mountain at the head of the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River, the area,
striped of trees by logging between 1905 and 1960, had been discovered
by Thomas Brigham, a North Carolina dentist, who had previously opened
the Beech Mountain and Sugar Mountain Ski Resorts.
Reflecting European style, Snowshoe Village is located on the
mountain's summit and offers 1,400 hotel and condominium rooms,
restaurants, shops, services, and entertainment. The 244-acre resort,
which combines the Snowshoe and Silver Creek areas, has a 3,348-foot
base; a 4,848-foot summit, making it the highest such ski resort in the
mid-Atlantic and southeast; 14 chairlifts; 60 runs, of which the longest
is 1.5 miles; and 1,500-foot vertical drops at Cupp Run and Shay's
Revenge. Average snowfall is 180 inches. Spring, summer, and fall
activities include golf, boating, bicycling, climbing, hiking, horseback
riding, canoeing, kayaking, skating, and swimming.
The extended area's Seneca State Forest, named after the Native
Americans who had once roamed the land, borders the Greenbier River in
Pocahontas County and contains 23 miles of forest, 11,684 acres of
woodlands, a four-acre lake for boating and trout, largemouth bass, and
bluegill fishing, hiking tails, pioneer cabins, and rustic campsites.
4. New River-Greenbrier Valley
The New River-Greenbrier Valley region of West Virginia is topographically diverse and ruggedly beautiful.
Split by the Gauley River, its northern section is comprised of a
rugged plateau in which is nestled the calm, azure Summersville Lake,
while mountainous ridgelines, affording extensive interior coal mining,
are characteristic of its central region. Horse and cattle grazing is
prevalent on the flat farm expanses which intersperse the eastern edge's
lush, green mountain plateau, divided by the Greenbrier River, the
largest, untamed water channel in the eastern United States, which flows
through it. Its southern region is a jigsaw puzzle of omni-directional
ridgelines and very narrow valleys.
New and Bluestone River-formed gorges provide a wealth of rock
climbing, canoeing, kayaking, and white water rafting opportunities in
this region of the state.
The area's most prominent, and beautiful, topographical feature is
the New River Gorge National River. Flowing from below Bluestone Dam,
near Hinton, to the north of the US Highway 19 bridge near Fayetteville,
it dissects all the physiographic provinces of the Appalachian
Mountains. A rugged, white water river, and among the oldest in North
America, it flows northward through steep canyons and geological
formations. Approximately 1,000 feet separate its bottom from its
adjacent plateau. On July 30, 1998, it was named an American Heritage
River, one of 14 waterways so designated.
Its related park encompasses 70,000 acres.
Signature of the New River Gorge National Park is its New River Gorge
Bridge. Completed on October 22, 1977 at a $37 million cost, the
dual-hinged, steel arch bridge is 3,030 feet long, 69.3 feet wide, and
has an 876-foot clearance. Carrying the four lanes of US Route 19, it
was then the world's longest, and is currently the highest vehicular
bridge in the Americas and the second highest in the world after the
Millau Viaduct in France. Its longest single span, between arches, is
1,700 feet.
There are three related visitor centers and vantagepoints. The
Canyon Rim Visitor Center, located two miles north of Fayetteville on
Route 19, offers exhibits, films, interpretive programs, trails, and a
scenic overlook, while the Grandview Center is located in Thurmond off
of Interstate 64 on Route 25. The park's headquarters are in Glen Jean.
Fayetteville is the hub for New River Gorge kayaking and white water rafting.
Coal, as synonymous with West Virginia as logging, is an industry the
tourist should experience sometime during his visit. The Beckley
Exhibition Coal Mine, located in the city of the same name, offers just
such an opportunity.
A 1,400-square-foot Company Store, coal museum, fudgery, and gift
shop serves as a visitor's center and threshold to the sight's two major
components. A coal camp, the first of these, depicts 20th-century life
in a typical coal town, represented by several relocated and restored
buildings.
Plying 1,500 feet of underground passages in the 36-inch,
Phillips-Sprague Seam Mine, which had been active between 1883 and 1953,
track-guided "man-cars" driven by authentic miners, encompass the
complex's second component and make periodic stops in the cold, damp,
and dark passage to discuss and illustrate the advancement of mining
techniques. The rock duster, for example, ensured that coal dust would
not explode deep in the mine. Strategically positioned roof bolts
avoided cave-ins. Pumps extracted water. Dangerously low oxygen levels
dictated immediate evacuation.
Coal had fueled the world's steam engines for industrial plants and rail and sea transportation.
The Phillips-Sprague Mine is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
5. Conclusion
West Virginia's three principle regions of Charleston, the Potomac
Highlands, and the New River-Greenbier Valley offer immersive
experiences into the past which shaped the present by means of its
pristinely beautiful and resource-rich mines and mountains that yielded
coal, timber, logging railroads, and
an abundance of outdoor sports.
