A confession: When I think of West Virginia, this is what comes to mind: coal mines, mountains, and extreme poverty.
No matter, the state is brimming with natural beauty and populated by some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. And we haven’t even mentioned the original restaurants in “The Coolest Small Town.”
As John Denver sang to us all those years ago, West Virginia can be “almost paradise.”
park here
Our reason for visiting West Virginia in late May was simple.
The state is home to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, our nation’s 63rd and youngest national park. The area has long attracted climbers, hikers and rafters and, in 2021, was elevated to national park status.
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As one of two national parks in the lower 48 states that we hadn’t yet visited, New River Gorge was a natural choice for an easy road trip from Kenosha.
Anyone who knows my husband Rex and me (and that includes Kenosha News readers) knows that we are avid visitors to national parks.
We have been traveling around the country for more than two decades, visiting sites in our National Park System and adding stamps to our National Park Passports.
This seven-day trip included only one national park, but we returned home with six new stamps from the various visitor centers.
The park contains slopes covered in oak and maple forests, dotted with sandstone cliffs and deep ravines. The highlight is the New River, which flows 53 miles through the park, with calm stretches dotted with segments of whitewater.
Although the river has an industrial past (it was used to transport people and goods), the focus is now on outdoor recreation.
Stay here
Within the national park, the only accommodation available is the campsite.
Luckily, the surrounding area has many options. Since we were traveling with our greyhound and needed it, we rented a small house in Fayetteville, which claims to be “the coolest small town.”
The town is a great “base camp” for exploring the area, with enough shops and restaurants to keep us entertained off the trail.
During our stay, we ate at popular local spots, including breakfasts at Cathedral Cafe (yes, a coffee shop and bookstore inside an old church) and Wood Iron, located in a historic downtown house, and Cafe One Ten, a local spot acquaintance. for its daily specials and homemade desserts, in the nearby town of Oak Hill.
Dinner stops included Firecreek BBQ & Steaks (self-explanatory), Pies & Pints (for local beers and artisanal pizzas), and Secret Sandwich Society.
If we lived in this area, we would definitely be members of this “secret society” of sandwich fans. In addition to creative sandwiches, the restaurant is also known for unique cocktails, such as the “Rise & Shine,” made with house-made limoncello, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, grapefruit, lemon, and sparkling water (which is described as containing “liquid sunshine, citrus and happiness.” Another summer cocktail on the menu is the Lavender Days, made with Tanqueray gin, lavender simple syrup, lemon, Lillet Blanc and a splash of absinthe (described as “floral, tantalizing, seductive.” ). Health!
history lessons
You can’t visit West Virginia, or even think about this region, without including coal mining.
In and around the national park, visitors can find former coal mines and company towns that boosted the economy here.
There are also former community sites, farms and other places in the park where families long associated with New River lived and worked.
Head to Thurmond, inside the park, for a free ranger program about the history of this once-bustling, now virtually empty town. (Current population: four people and, when we visited, a greyhound).
A classic “boom town,” Thurmond was developed to support the railroad and at one time had a population of several thousand people.
On Thurmond’s “business line” are a bank, an old restaurant and a coal store. In its heyday, between the late 19th century and the 1930s, the city had hotels, shops and a movie theater.
The historic depot, which still serves Amtrak trains, has been restored and is now a visitor center.
Note: The road to (and from) Thurmond is narrow and winding and is not recommended if you are driving a motorhome or towing a trailer. They’re not kidding with this rough road warning, and we’ve got the flat tire to prove it.
stay a while
We only had a week to enjoy this area of West Virginia, but it was enough time to meet and interact with many of the locals, who left us believing that this might be the friendliest place on Earth.
At each stop, the people we met were happy to chat and offer suggestions on places to visit.
Our waiter at Firecreek BBQ pointed us to other local restaurants, and the folks at the Waterstone Outdoors store in Fayetteville are more than happy to help anyone from expert climbers to people like us who just want to enjoy some moderate hiking. The store celebrated its 30th anniversary during our stay, with a garden party featuring a local band called Dog Bandanna. There is nothing better than that.
When we got a flat tire and were waiting outside a Family Dollar store for roadside assistance, three different people stopped and tried to help us. (We declined, since we had called a tire store, but appreciated the deals.) When we repaired the tire, it cost us a whopping $17. Having to return the next day for a quick tire repair (seriously, there are some bad roads in this area), we were not charged anything.
All friends here
America may feel like a house divided against itself, but most people are downright neighbors.
Another good sign? When we were on vacation, we never heard a word from anyone about the Donald Trump trial, the problems at our southern border, or anything to do with the ballot boxes or the Supreme Court justices’ flags.
Sometimes the sound of silence says it all and the beauty of our country shines through.
So… is this heaven? It’s not for me to say, but it certainly comes close.
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