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West Virginia State Parks

         

Region

If you are not familar with WV, we have 55 counties. There are a handful of counties that might be known to outsiders--primarily Logan county and McDowell county, but mostly you'll want to figure out what region you are in or visiting to decide where to go.

I consider a lot of these areas a day trip from Morgantown (Monongalia county / Mountaineer Country) so don't skip a visit just because it's not in your region. It's going to be a drive to the majority of these places, anyway, so as long as you've got a book or music to listen to, just plan to make a scenic drive part of your day.

Northern Panhandle

Tomlinson Run (Hancock county)*

Eastern Panhandle

Berkeley Springs, Cacapon (Morgan county)*

Mid Ohio Valley

Blennerhassett Island (Wood county)*, North Bend (Ritchie county)*

Mountain Lakes

Cedar Creek (Gilmer county)*, Holly River (Webster county)*, Stonewall Jackson Lake (Lewis county)*

Metro Valley

Beech Fork (Cabell & Wayne county), Kanawha (Kanawha county), Tu-Endie-Wei (Mason county)

Hatfield-McCoy Mountains

Cabwaylingo (Wayne county), Chief Logan (Logan county)

Mountaineer Country

Cathedral (Preston county)*, Coopers Rock (Monongalia & Preston counties)*, Prickett's Fort (Marion county)*, Valley Falls (Marion & Taylor counties)*, Tygart Lake (Barbour & Taylor counties)*, Watters Smith (Harrison county)*

Potamic Highlands

Blackwater Falls (Tucker county)*, Canaan Valley (Tucker county)*, Fairfax Stone (Grant, Preston, & Tucker counties)*, Kumrabow (Randolph county), Lost River (Hardy county)*, Calvin Price (Greenbrier & Pocahontas counties), Cass (Pocahontas county), Droop Mountain (Pocahontas county), Seneca State Forest (Pocahontas county), Watoga (Pocahontas county)

New-River Greenbrier Valley

Babcock (Fayette county)*, Hawk's Nest (Fayette county)*, Bluestone (Summers county), Pipestem (Mercer & Summers counties), Camp Creek (Mercer county), Pinnacle Rock (Mercer county), Carnifex Ferry (Nicholas county)*, Greenbrier (Greenbrier county), Little Beaver (Raleigh county), Moncove Lake (Monroe county), Panther (McDowell county), Twin Falls (Wyoming county)

* These are a relatively easy day drive from Morgantown, ie. generally less than 2 hours OR good roads.

In general, if you're coming from the north, a place that is any distance from I79, Rt 19, or off Rt 50 EAST of I79, is going to be a long slow drive, because you're most likely going to be on two-line winding roads with 9% grades. These are lovely drives, but will be frustrating if you are expecting 20 miles to take 20 minutes. Also, don't rely on your phone GPS, especially in the central eastern part of the state. You will NOT have cell signal in the Green Bank Quiet Zone.

Also, our GPS frequently attempts to kill us, so if you're directed to take a single lane dirt road--hesitate before doing so, unless you have 4WD.

Features

Establishment

Because I was interested, here is a list of the parks and forest arranged by the year they were established. You'll notice that there were a lot of parks and forest established in the 1930s--that's because of most were CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) projects.

What you'll notice if you visit those places are the CCC cabins and shelters, many of which have a similar look to them.

Year Est.     Park Name
1924 Seneca State Forest
1928 Droop Mountain Battlefield
1931 Carnifex Ferry Battlefield
1934 Babcock State Park
  Lost River State Park
  Kumbrabow State Forest
  Watoga State Park
1935 Hawks Nest State Park
  Tomlinson Run State Park
1936 Coopers Rock State Forest
1937 Blackwater Falls State Park
  Kanawha State Forest
  Cacapon State Park
1938 Holly River State Park
  Greenbrier State Forest
  Pinnacle Rock State Park
1940 Panther State Forest
1942 Cathedral State Park
1945 Tygart Lake State Park
1949 Watters Smith State Park
1950 Audra State Park
  Bluestone State Park
1951 North Bend State Park
1953 Calvin Price State Forest
  Cedar Creek State Park
1956 Tu-Endie-Wei State Park
1957 Canaan Valley State Park
  Fairfax Stone State Park
1961 Cass Scenic Railroad
  Chief Logan State Park
1963 Pipestem State Park
1964 Twin Falls State Park
  Valley Falls State Park
1970 Beartown State Park
  Berkeley Springs State Park
1971 Little Beaver State Park
1975 Prickett's Fort State Park
1978 Beech Fork State Park
1980 Greenbrier River Trail
1987 Camp Creek State Park
1989 Blennerhassett Island
1990 Stonewall Jackson Lake
1991 Moncove Lake
  North Bend Rail Trail