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Clyde CraigClyde Craig

Clyde Craig is a staff writer for West Virginia Explorer. Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, he traveled with his family across the globe with the U.S. Army before returning to the Mountain State in 2011. He has been a writer with the explorer since 2018. He can be reached at 304-575-7390 or at craig@wvexplorer.com.
Tourists visit the Coal Run Company Store near the New River Gorge
Lodging and Real Estate

One of the New River Gorge’s best-known landmarks is looking for its next life

by Clyde Craig

CUNARD, W.Va. — For generations, travelers heading toward the New River at Cunard slowed as they rounded the bend and caught sight of the Coal Run Company Store. Long after the coal camps that built it disappeared, the broad, weathered building remained—a familiar landmark for fishermen, whitewater rafters, hikers, rock climbers, and generations of West … Read more

Our Lady of the Pines, a tiny chapel near Silver Lake in Preston County, is among the unexpected West Virginia landmarks featured in Peggy Stanton's new book The United "Saints" of America. Built in 1958 by Lithuanian immigrant Peter Milkint, the chapel has become one of the state's most distinctive places of worship.
Landmarks / Museums

United Saints of America author discovers West Virginia’s unexpected Catholic landmarks

by Clyde Craig

WHEELING, W.Va. — West Virginia is rarely considered a destination for Catholic pilgrimage. Settled largely by Virginians and Scots-Irish pioneers before later immigrant communities arrived, the Mountain State has long been associated more with frontier Protestantism than with Gothic cathedrals or sacred shrines. Yet veteran ABC News correspondent Peggy Stanton found enough remarkable stories here … Read more

A child sits alone while coping with the loss of a loved one. About one in seven West Virginia children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before age 18, highlighting the need for grief support programs such as Camp Erin West Virginia. (Photo: Getty Images)
Health and Medicine

One in seven West Virginia children lose a parent or sibling. A free camp wants to help

by Clyde Craig

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. — For many West Virginia children, grief arrives far earlier than most people imagine. About one in seven children in the Mountain State will experience the death of a parent or sibling before reaching adulthood—the second-highest rate in the nation. Behind that statistic are thousands of young people navigating profound loss while trying … Read more

An illustration contrasts two American frontiers—the forested mountains of early West Virginia and the open prairie later immortalized by Laura Ingalls Wilder—revealing how pioneer life unfolded across very different landscapes and generations.
History / Prehistory

Loved Little House on the Prairie? Discover West Virginia’s earlier frontier

by Clyde Craig

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Netflix’s new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie is introducing a new generation to the hardships and hope of life on the American frontier. Viewers are following the Ingalls family as they struggle to build a home on the Kansas prairie, where survival depends on hard work, perseverance, and family strength. For West Virginians—and … Read more

George Washington and the Seneca leader Guyasuta overlooking the Ohio River near the mouth of Big Sandy Creek during Washington's 1770 expedition through the Ohio Valley. The two longtime acquaintances camped together before discussing the frontier lands that would later become part of West Virginia.
Travel / Transportation

George Washington’s lost West Virginia: Five places you can still visit today

by Clyde Craig

RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. — Long before he became the first president of the United States, George Washington was an explorer, surveyor, soldier, and ambitious young land speculator drawn to the vast wilderness beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Much of what is now West Virginia was then the Virginian frontier—an untamed wilderness of towering forests, broad rivers, and … Read more

The Williams River winds through one of the most scenic and remote sections of West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest. Temporary road closures beginning July 20 will affect access to parts of the river corridor while the U.S. Forest Service repairs flood damage and improves stream crossings for native wildlife. (Photo: David Sibray)
National Forests

Road closures planned across Monongahela National Forest as repairs, stream projects begin

by Clyde Craig

ELKINS, W.Va. — Travelers planning to explore the high mountains of eastern West Virginia this summer should expect significant road closures in parts of the Monongahela National Forest as major construction projects begin to repair storm damage, improve stream crossings for native wildlife, and upgrade access to some of the state’s most popular outdoor destinations. … Read more

West Virginia Wesleyan student photographer
Higher Education

West Virginia Wesleyan College chosen to nurture state’s top young artists through 2030

by Clyde Craig

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — A small private college in the Appalachian Mountains will remain a summer gathering place for some of West Virginia’s most promising teenage artists through the end of the decade. West Virginia Wesleyan College has been selected to host the West Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts for another three-year cycle, extending the … Read more

The spotted lanternfly (Lycorma deliculata) is an invasive species native to Asia. It showed up in Pennsylvania in 2014. Above, a spotted lanternfly visits a log in Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster County, Pa., on Oct. 5, 2018. (Photo by Caitlyn Johnstone/Chesapeake Bay Program)
Wildlife / Conservancy

Spotted lanternfly spreads across West Virginia, threatening vineyards, forests and farms

by Clyde Craig

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A fast-moving invasive insect that has spread across much of the eastern United States is continuing its march through West Virginia, where experts warn it threatens vineyards, orchards, hardwood forests, and other economically important crops. The spotted lanternfly, an invasive species native to Asia, was first discovered in Berkeley County, West Virginia, … Read more

An AI concept based on a press release from WVU envisions Appalachia as a future hub for advanced energy innovation, where research, resilient electric grid technologies, and modern manufacturing coexist with the region's forests, rivers, and mountain communities.
Economic Development

$321 million science initiative aims to make Appalachia America’s next energy innovation hub

by Clyde Craig

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A new $321 million investment from federal and private sources has been established to position West Virginia as one of the nation’s leading centers for next-generation energy technology, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and electric grid innovation. The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced that the Resilient Energy Technology and Infrastructure (RETI) Consortium … Read more