David Sibray
ARTHURDALE, W.Va. — The Kingwood Pike climbs slowly from the valley of the Monongahela River at Morgantown into the Allegheny highlands atop the Chestnut Ridge. There, travelers are provided with eastward vantage points across the open farmlands of Preston County, long renowned as the heart of West Virginia’s Buckwheat Belt. To the southeast of the … Read more
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — Economic impacts have nearly doubled in communities surrounding Harpers Ferry National Historical Park over the last decade, according to the National Park Service. Park superintendent Tanya Gossett said that in 2023, more than 427,300 visitors explored the historical park in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle. She said they spent $23.8 million, supporting … Read more
LOGAN, W.Va. — A new 4.6-mile trail connecting Chief Logan State Park and the Hatfield-McCoy Trails system has opened in southern West Virginia. This new trail connects to the system’s Bearwallow Trail with the lodge at Chief Logan State Park, allowing riders to stay at the park without trailering off-road vehicles to the trails. According … Read more
GLEN JEAN, W.Va. – The National Park Service reports that in 2023, more than 1,900,000 visitors spent 96.5 million dollars in communities near the three national park areas in southern West Virginia. Their spending supported 1,268 jobs in the area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of 116.5 million dollars, according to … Read more
MERCER SALT WORKS, W.Va. — The legend of the lost Mercer Saltworks near the New River in West Virginia may be remembered now by only a few locals and adventurers, and its ruins may be known to even fewer. Accessible by a rough trail, it was once among the most important landmarks in the valley … Read more
PAX, W.Va. — Tales of roadside ghosts account for many of the most famous ghost stories in West Virginia, according to the publisher of the Mountain State’s popular website for the paranormal, West Virginia Ghosts. Jonathan Moore, who has been publishing first-hand tales of the supernatural submitted to the website by visitors since 1999, says … Read more
BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — West Virginia officials have broken ground on the largest mountain bike trail project in state history. At Cacapon Resort State Park, a two-hour drive from downtown Washington, D.C., the $3.5 million project will add 35 miles of professionally designed mountain bike trails to the park’s trail system. Brett McMillion, director of … Read more
LIBERTY, W.Va. — Eighteenmile Creek wanders quietly through the low hills of northern Putnam County, revealing not in the least any potential for tragedy along its banks. Yet, tragedy visited a group of hunters camping one night in a cave in the early 1800s. Where precisely this horrific incident occurred is not widely known, though … Read more
BECKLEY, W.Va. — A stone’s throw from one of the busiest traffic centers in West Virginia, a spring house and one-room cabin are all that remains of a farm that was long a favorite stop for 19th-century travelers. Now, its owners are working to preserve the cabin and the bubbling spring that watered countless horses … Read more
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Questions may always surround a mysterious boulder found 200 years ago in southern West Virginia inscribed with the characters “S. Ferguson F. County 1814.” (The numeral “4” is chiseled in reverse.) Ferguson’s Rock has since been the focus of local legends, including tales of a phantom that roams the scene of its … Read more
