100 Great Things about West Virginia

(more or less)

 

We spent eleven wonderful days in West Virginia – eastern West Virginia – in June / July 2011.  Here are some of the great things we discovered:

  

  1. We went for the reenactment of the Battle of Corricks Ford.  William Corrick was Mike’s great-great-great grandfather.  He owned property near Parsons, WV.  As the Confederates retreated at the end of the Battle of Rich Mountain, there was a battle, or skirmish, between ten Confederate infantrymen holding the rear line with their general, Garnett and the pursuing Union forces.  The general was killed.  His body was brought into the Corrick home.  The home was used as a field hospital.  The reenactment was great!

  

 

  1. My grandfather, Gerald B. Corrick, told a story about the family being chased up the hill when the battle broke out and that the dining room table was hit by gunfire.  Sure enough, Melanie, a cousin has the table!  It has a bullet hole and corresponding damage to the leg from what looks like a Minnie ball hit!

 

  1. Parsons is a nice, small town.  Check out the Railroad Depot and railroad bridge turned into a pedestrian bridge.

  1. The folks in WV are just about 100% friendly!  We had a great time!  (There’s only one exception we noted during our entire stay!)

 

  1. The WV State Parks are fantastic!

6.  Blackwater Falls State Park is one with an amber-colored water fall.

7.  The food at the Battle of Corricks Ford reenactment was amazingly good.  We’d strongly recommend the crab cakes from Parsons Country Inn and the chicken from the local service club.

  

cabin at Watoga State Park                                                                             cabin at Babcock State Park

  1. The cabins in the WV State Parks are fantastic!  Several have old CCC cabins which are really wonderful pieces of stone and log construction.  Try for last-minute one-night stays at the parks:  we were able to get five such nights at different parks with no advance reservations!

 9.  At some of the cabins and state park restaurants, you'll find state china!  It's reminiscent of railroad china -- much fun!

 

 

if you save these images, you can print them out full size

  1. There is a VIPP (Very Important Parks Person) program in which you get a card from the State Parks in Charleston, WV.  Write in advance.  As you visit parks, look for the VIPP box which is usually just outside the main office’s front door.  Stamp your card with the rubber stamp inside the box.  Collect 15 required plus 5 optional stamps and you’ll get a free jacket!  Get your card in advance of heading to WV.

 

  1. The airport at Charleston is about the easiest to manage anywhere!  The luggage claim conveyor is probably 20’ from the car rental desks.  They have about 25 car rentals at Enterprise each day, so you won’t be “lost in the crowd!”  There is a tax of $10+ per day for rentals at the airport, so that can add up!

          The airport is on top of a mountain that was flattened out.  It's really an amazing place to fly into.

          There's also a military operation at the airport, so it's interesting to see the aircraft there.

  1. If you’re going to stay in Parsons, WV, look up Irene's Place (www.irenesplace.com), the bed and breakfast run by folks involved in the local historical society.  The rate is around $65 per night for a whole house!

 

  1. The geology of WV is very interesting:  the Appalachians were created long ago as sedimentary rocks, then as the land rose and the rivers cut them, long, narrow, north-south mountains remained.  Much of traveling this part of the country is going up to 4,000’ and then down to 2,000’.

 

  1. The rivers often flow north!  That’s a really surprising idea for us!  Several of the rivers flow north to ultimately join the Ohio River, then the Mississippi River to finally get to the Gulf of Mexico.

 

  1. Often river names change when they join!  Thus the Blackwater and Dry Fork become the Black Fork after they join.  The Black Fork and the Shavers Fork become the Cheat after they join!  While the Cheat dumps into the Monongahela, where the Monongahela and Allegheny join, they become the Ohio River.

 

  1. What we (in the western US) know as a “pass” is called a “gap” in WV.  What we call a river is a "run."

 

  1. The Pocahontas Demonstration Mine is in Virginia, but barely so.  It’s definitely worth a detour!  This is a walk-through mine because it had 12’ high coal seams.  The tour led by a retired miner is quite good.  The “exhibits” need a great deal of work!

  

  1. The Beckley Demonstration Mine is run by the city of Beckley.  It’s a great tour of a much narrower seam that’s been opened up a bit so regular tourists can ride through in a “coal train.”  The Beckley Mine operation includes a good, small museum and several restored buildings:  a single miner’s cabin, a family cabin, the superintendent’s home , a school and a church – all well worth visiting.

  1. One of the best parts of the Beckley Mine tour is the opportunity to see and operate(!) a carbide lamp.  I had seen these for decades, but never seen one operate.  Not only that, the guide lets guests light and operate the lamp!

 

  1. The WV food item of note is supposed to be Pepperoni Rolls, a strip of pepperoni inside a baked bread wrapping.  We didn’t find any, so will have to look for them on another trip.

 

  1. The Tamarack gallery that sells all sorts of West Virginia creations is an interesting building and has interesting stuff for sale.  There is also a café that looked quite good and had some unusual offerings such as catfish.

  1. In the coal mines, it’s interesting to see the old shafts created by trees which rotted and were replaced by other minerals.  These casts were quite dangerous to miners because they could suddenly slip down upon men in the mines.

  1. The New River Gorge Bridge is really interesting.  At 880’ over the river (4 times the height of the Golden Gate Bridge), it’s really “up there.”  The walk along the catwalk would be interesting, but at $74 or so, that’s too much.

 

  1. The trip down to Thurmond is a good one.  The NPS rangers say don’t try to drive up the east side, although it shows on a number of maps.  Park at the depot which holds the visitors’ center:  do not drive to the historic buildings, walk instead.  Thurmond is at lat / lon 37.957214 / -81.078954.

         

          When you get down to the New River headed to Thurmond, head straight across the river.  Don't head to the right.  There is another bridge 1-3/4 miles

          further upstream (to the right), but that's not the bridge you want.  The bridge to Thurmond can be obscured by a parked train, as in this photo.

           The bridge is a great combined auto and train bridge.

  1. At the Grandview Overlook, there are really three different spots to stop to see the Gorge.  The northern-most of the three has a very surprising cool air vent.

  1. The new Boy Scout camp is being constructed.  You can get to the gate and get a photo, but that’s about as far as you can get!  Look for this entrance near Glen Jean at lat / lon 37.924248 / -81.153148.

This old bank building is a prominent feature of Glen Jean at lat / lon 37.928321 / -81155604.

  

The Big Bend Tunnel is to the left, the Great Bend Tunnel is to the right.

    

  1. The John Henry legend is at home at Tolcot, WV.  See the monument and the tunnel.  To get to the tunnel face, get on the gravel road on the north side of the tracks and head west.  Stop the car to walk through the park-in-development to get to the abandoned Great Bend Tunnel.  The Great Bend Tunnel was the one finished in 1872 and is the historic site.  The Big Bend Tunnel was finished in 1932.  The statue was installed in 1972.  The Great Bend Tunnel was closed in 1974.

 

  1. The Company Store at Ashland isn’t worth the detour.  It’s a newer, moderately interesting building an the nearby interpretive panels are OK, but don’t spend the time.

 

  1. The Company Store at Whipple is very interesting.  It’s an old wood building with a great round sales floor.  The tour is good, but could be “tightened up.”  Be prepared for the $10 fee for the tour—worth it in our opinion.  (This place can use any help it can get to keep it up and get it fully restored.)  Getting there is a bit tricky.  Check the website at www.whipplecompanystore.com for directions.  The latitude / longitude is 37.95866 / -81.16557 for checking on GoogleEarth or the like.

 

  1. The two New River Gorge Visitors Centers are quite good.  The folks at the southern one were exceedingly helpful and went out of their way to help us.

 

  1. The weather in mid to late June and very early July seemed really good.  Just getting warm, but not too hot and sticky.  It seems the snow season can be really long and the hot, humid summers aren’t for us, either.  The fall colors should be really good – that’s why the Cass Railroad charges extra during that season!

 

  1. At Cass, watch out for early tours that may not be announced.  We didn’t know about a 9:30 AM shop tour that we really would have liked to take and the 10:30 tour was going to take two hours, so we would have missed our noon train.  How we (and other visitors!) would have liked to know about the 9:30 AM tour!

  1. The Kimball War Memorial which is the first memorial to African-American WW I soldiers keeps very short hours – you’ll have to schedule closely or get lucky to get into the museum.

          Across the street from the War Memorial is another interesting railroad tunnel.  Note how the tunnel was enlarged at the corners.

 

 

  1. The Mountain Made shop in Thomas, WV has an interesting collection of locally-made items, mostly high-end wood, glass, etc.  It’s in an interesting set of old factory buildings.  But, be careful, it’s hard to find – the signs are nearly inconspicuous and it’s a few blocks off the “main drag.”  See www.mountainmade.com for info.  This was the lowest-cost place to buy WV-made marbles that we found on our trip – a bag for $1.50.

  

  1. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is very interesting.  The free (!) bus tour of the antenna arrays is well done.  The museum is full of interactive exhibits that help explain microwaves, antennas, the origins of the universe, etc.  (Nothing here for the “intelligent design” folks!)  There’s a nice small food service that has a couple of interesting items such as shrimp curry.  The big antenna has a surface area of 2-1/2 acres -- blow up this photo to get an idea of the size of the human catwalks.

 

  1. West Virginia is proud of its progressive history:  formed from anti-slavery leanings during the Civil War, early to have court decisions reducing differences in education in public schools between blacks and whites, quick to adopt integration post Brown v. Board of Education, etc.  See the pamphlet “Justice in the Mountains.”

 

  1. The Hawks Nest State Park site is where the infamous tunnel for water for hydroelectric use was dug…
  2. Two State Parks have aerial tramways – down into the park, rather than up to peaks!  The one at Pipestem and the one at Hawks Nest State Park.

the chandelier at the State Capitol

 

  1. The State Capital in Charleston is a nice place to visit.  The staff is really friendly and it was even open on July 4 – just wander in.  There are some historical exhibits and some brass plaques from the U.S.S. West Virginia which fought in WW II.
  2. Just south of Charleston is South Charleston!  There’s an interesting Native American mound there with good interpretive panels.  There are also a couple antique collectives just a block away.

 

  1. West Virginia advertises “under budget.”  Generally, your dollar will go far in WV.  Motels were what we’d consider “typical” costs, but generally tourist activities and the state park cabins were quite reasonable.

 

 

  1. A good, free Civil War Trails booklet is available.

  1. Look for the Midland Trail Guide, too.

 

  1. In late June and early July we were pleasantly surprised not to have any problems with flies or mosquitoes.  Can anyone assure us that is the case later in the summer?

 

  1. While the rest of the country is in financial difficulty, West Virginia seems to have more than its share of problems.  Residential and business properties are for sale in many, many places.

  1. Seneca Rocks is another interesting place to visit.  It was recently featured on Covert Affairs.

 

 

  1. Camp Washington-Carver was an early Negro 4-H Camp.

 

   48.  There are observation towers at a number of State Parks

 

 

   49.  If you're having a family reunion in West Virginia, there's a "Genuine West Virginia Reunion Kit."  See the info on how to get one!  (We found out too late.)

 

   50.  There are many, many of the historical marker signs around the state.  They really help explain the history of just about everything.

 

 

   51.  At Droop Mountain, there's an original drum that was recovered shortly after the battle.

 

 

This page will be updated as I get a chance to add more.  Check back.  Enjoy!

 

© Michael Von der Porten 2011 All Rights Reserved                                                                               www.winepi.com/West Virginia 2011.htm

 

 

 

 

 

updated:  02/10/12 09:57:38 PM