West Virginia

Adventure in the Gorge Country

The New River Gorge became America's newest national park in 2020, and the recognition was long overdue. The New River itself is paradoxically one of the oldest rivers on the continent, carving a canyon through ancient rock that now serves as a playground for whitewater rafters, rock climbers and hikers. The Gauley River nearby offers some of the most challenging commercially run rapids in the world. The iconic New River Gorge Bridge, one of the longest steel span bridges on the planet, draws visitors each October for Bridge Day, when BASE jumpers leap from its deck in a spectacle that feels wholly West Virginian.

A History Carved From Coal

West Virginia broke from Virginia during the Civil War, becoming a state in 1863 in one of American history's more dramatic acts of political geography. The coal and timber industries that followed shaped the state profoundly, leaving behind both wealth and hardship in equal measure. That history is told honestly in museums, mining towns and the landscapes themselves. Matewan, site of the famous 1920 Matewan Massacre during the Mine Wars, is now a heritage site that draws those trying to understand one of America's most complex labour struggles.

Harpers Ferry and the Eastern Panhandle

Harpers Ferry is where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac, and where John Brown launched his famous 1859 raid on the federal arsenal in a failed attempt to ignite a slave uprising. The historic town sits at the tip of West Virginia's eastern panhandle and is preserved as a national historical park, its cobblestoned streets and 19th century buildings commanding views that Thomas Jefferson once declared worth a voyage across the Atlantic. The surrounding area offers some of the finest hiking along the Appalachian Trail, which passes directly through town.