Southern West Virginia

Mountaineers are always free, so says the state motto of West Virginia. Traveling past the rolling farms and forested ridges along U.S. Highway 19 through the southern half of The Mountain State, one can sense the independent spirit that still inspires artisans and adventure-seekers alike. Just follow the old road north to explore Appalachian history, tame wild rapids and snow-covered mountains, or shop for a unique, handcrafted objet d’art.

“The biggest draw is outdoor recreation,” said Becky Sullivan, marketing director for Visit Southern West Virginia. “The New River Gorge is most popular landmark and sightseeing opportunity. We’ve got whitewater rafting, all of the outdoor activities great for families and a year-round destination. We have the best people here, the most-friendly communities, very close-knit. We have four distinct seasons, spring and fall probably are the favorites.” 

Just past Fayetteville, West Virginia, once called one of the “coolest small towns” by a travel guide for its locally owned restaurants and craft breweries, U.S. 19 crosses one of the world’s highest single-arch bridges above the New River Gorge. A visitor’s center next to the bridge offers a place to view the bridge and descend into the gorge on a winding one-way road that offers spectacular views of the towering bridge above and the peaceful river below. 

“The fall foliage is spectacular. A lot of people compare it to New England,” Sullivan said. “You can drive across the New River Bridge and see the canyon and the New River, which is the second oldest river in the world. It’s beautiful in the fall. They do a tour under the New River Gorge Bridge called Bridge Walk where you can get some great photos and hang your legs off the catwalk dangling 876 feet in the air.”

Each Autumn, the region celebrates the iconic bridge on the third Saturday of October. Bridge Day coincides with the peak of the leaf season, and officials shut down the bridge to motor vehicle traffic and allow pedestrians a chance to gaze down into the ancient riverbed, now protected by the National Park Service as the New River Gorge National River. Grandview, another scenic federal park along the New River several miles to the southeast in Beaver, offers more hiking trails, picnic tables and a spectacular view from the top of the gorge to the winding river 1,400 feet below. Grandview also hosts Theater West Virginia, an outdoor amphitheater that performs a Hatfields and McCoys drama and other plays during the summer.

Exploring southern West Virginia along U.S. 19 also takes visitors on the last ride of country music star Hank Williams Sr. On a fateful trip through these parts on New Year’s Day in 1953, he died somewhere along this road in the back seat of his Cadillac. His driver found him dead eight miles south of the New River Gorge in Oak Hill, West Virginia, when he stopped for gas and to check on the ailing star. A small plaque pays tribute to the music legend near the site of the former gas station where his journey ended, and a bridge 50 miles south over the Bluestone River on U.S. 19 near Spanishburg also bears his name. Portions of the sleepy, winding road remain much as it did in the country singer’s day since much of the traffic now flows on adjacent Interstate 77.

“Since we’re right smack-dab in the middle of the eastern United States and right here at the junction of so many interstates as well — 77, 64 and 79 comes through us, too — we see an awful lot of travelers back and forth. We’re within 500 miles of 90 percent of the population of the United States. When people want a day trip, they come here. There’s a lot of do here,” said Leslie Gray Baker, director of parks and recreation for city of Beckley, the largest city in southern West Virginia. “One of the first things we try to do is get people to go up to Tamarack.”

Tamarack: The best of West Virginia

Created in 1996 to showcase the best arts and crafts produced by West Virginia artisans, Tamarack draws locals and visitors alike to stroll the gallery-like setting conveniently located in a beautiful travel plaza next to Interstates 64/77.

“We are the best of the state. We sell the best work of the state,” said Norma Acord, Tamarack’s marketing and events director. “We have over 1,300 artists and about every type of art made in the state. There are a wide variety of stuff. You can get things for $2 or a $33,000 sculpture. It’s a little bit of everyone, something for everyone.”

The manicured grounds surrounding the circular building—inspired by a Texas star quilt pattern—invite visitors to relax for a while and enjoy the beautiful artwork or just a made-from-scratch meal. The facility is the brainchild of former Gov. Gaston Caperton, who wanted a travel plaza that could connect West Virginia craftspeople with turnpike travelers. Nearly 70 percent of Tamarack’s visitors are from out of state, official say.

“We are treated as a tourist center instead of just a retail space,” Acord said. “Tamarack came about in that sense, to promote all of the artists in the state. We only sell things that are made in West Virginia, with the exception of a few souvenir things.”

Tamarack features a conference center space with an art gallery that shows different exhibits throughout the year, as well as a theater for performance arts such as music, or live theater. It also features a deli, grill and bakery, which are popular with both locals and tourists.

“Within the deli, grill and bakery, everything is made from scratch. We just got a new executive chief, who is originally from this area,” Acord said. “We really want to make sure the food is Appalachian style food, but a little bit light because you’re traveling and don’t want a heavy meal, but it’s good for locals to come for a Sunday dinner. Some of our most popular entrees are fried green tomatoes. We have West Virginia fried trout, people love that. It’s a good mix of food. We see an average of 350,000 to 400,000 people a year enter our front door.”

There is a jury process to select state artists to maintain a high-level of quality artwork. 

“It’s not like you can just drop it off like a consignment shop. To be at Tamarack as an artist is very high on your list of achievements,” Acord said. “It’s a great opportunity for artists to be here. Where else are you going to get that many people coming through the building? They are stopping to eat, they’re stopping to use the restroom, they’re stopping to buy art. It’s a wide variety of customers who come here. Everything in our building is for sale. We have a resident glass blowing artist who teaches people how to blow glass in his workshop. We have pottery studio that we teach classes out of, we have a pair of woodworkers who also teach classes. There are some really great things out there. You could look for days. It’s a beautiful place.”

The Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine

Another major attraction in Beckley gives visitors the chance to experience the world of a turn-of-the-century coal miner in Appalachia while also enjoying the children’s museum, planetarium and a re-created coal camp. 

“It opened in 1962 for the public,” Baker said of the exhibition mine. “It was a family-owned mine back in the late 1800s to early 1900s that didn’t operate for very long. We call those little family-owned mines “punch mines,” where you punch into the mountain,” she said.

The small mine taps into the Sewell seam, a 3-1/2 foot layer of bituminous coal that runs roughly parallel to the New River across this region. 

“There’s coal in there, but it didn’t produce very long. This was an area of the city that was undeveloped. The administration at the time decided at the time to get together with the vision of opening, as a tourist attraction, a coal mine. It grew and grew about became very popular. We get about 50,000-to-55,000 visitors a year.”

Open from April to November, the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine reopens briefly after Thanksgiving and the first week of December. “We do ‘Coal Town Christmas,’” Baker said. “It’s an Appalachian coal-town Christmas with hot chocolate, roasted marshmallows and the property all decorated. It’s the only time we’re not really historically authentic, with the thousands and thousands of lights.”

Visitors should allow 2-1/2 hours to tour all the exhibits, which feature authentic reproductions and relocated structures including a coal camp, church, miner’s house, superintendent’s house, a one-room schoolhouse, barn, blacksmith shop and general store. 

“Underground, everybody thinks that’s all it is, but it’s just one small part of the attraction,” Baker said. “The underground tour lasts 30 to 35 minutes. Then there’s the coal camp houses. We have the Youth Museum, which is an award-winning children’s museum. We have changing exhibits from museums with greater resources. We also have the Mountain Homestead. It’s a representation, since the buildings have been moved, of the pioneer history of West Virginia.” 

With “man-cars” loaded on a small rail line, the tour guides — all with mining experience — take groups down into the gently sloping mine, which has been significantly widened since its days as a working coal mine. It remains a constant 58 degrees inside, regardless of the weather above.

 “We just try to show people what a coal seam looks like, what a coal mine looks like,” said Tony Basconi, who retired after 40 years in coal mines. “You have to consider the mine here on the property is considered a pick-and-shovel pony mine. In the days it opened in 1890, they had no electrical equipment. It was pick-and-shovel only. You’d be surprised how many people come through here that don’t know what a coal seam is and ask ‘What do you use coal for?’ Well, this light comes on because of coal.”

When the car stops, tour guide Gerald Lucas, a former coal miner and federal mine inspector, describes how miners in the 1900s carved out a small space about 3-1/2 feet tall to get at the coal, then hauled it out with mules. “To get a sense of how they worked, go home and crawl under your kitchen table,” Lucas said. “That’s about the same height as the mine. Then imagine spending 12 hours there in the dark swinging a pick and shovel.”

Conditions outside the mine were also basic and functional, as represented in the mine’s recreated coal camp. The popular attraction sees lots of tourists, school tours and local people who reconnect with the past. 

“They go away with a deeper sense of pride and understanding what their grandpa did or their daddy did,” Baker said. “Then for those people who visit from afar, we let them know the importance of the coal industry to the rest of the world. If it hadn’t been for our miners in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, we would not have won wars. We would not have been the economic force we are. We couldn’t have built roads and skyscrapers, because it’s all contingent on steel. And that’s where it all came from, the Appalachian coal fields. We did it. It was our coal miners, who’ve been maligned for so long. It was their effort pulling that stuff out from under the ground that helped fuel the economic stature of this country.”

Winterplace ski resort

Just south of Beckley off U.S. 19 in Ghent, Winterplace ski resort awakens each fall. Before the first batch of snow is made, the chairlifts take leaf-lookers to the top of the mountain to enjoy panoramic views of the autumn colors from the summit at 3,600 feet.  

 “Starting in October, we offer fall lift rides to the top of the mountain. Families can enjoy a leisure walk back down the hill or enjoy a casual lift ride back down as they take in the fall color,” said Thomas E. Wagner, Winterplace’s executive vice president. 

The sleepy resort stirs to life as winter approaches. The slopes usually open in mid-December, but visitors can still enjoy the resort’s chairlift tours and other amenities, as well as start their career in winter sports.

“Fall is also when we start getting ready for ski season with our employee on-boarding program. This is a great first job for many, along with an ideal way to learn how to ski and snowboard while making a little money,” Wagner said.

The smallest and southernmost of West Virginia’s four main ski resorts, Winterplace is close to Beckley and right off Interstate 77. Weather permitting, its runs and tubing lanes are open seven days a week with night skiing, too. Learn-to-ski/snowboard packages and lodging at on-site cabins area available. 

When the temperature allows, the resort is capable of making enough snow to cover its 27 ski runs and two terrain parks in the 90-acre resort. It offers learn-to-ski/snowboard packages and lodging at on-site cabins or nearby motels. 

“We have a list of events taking place each weekend, from karaoke on the main stage each Saturday afternoon, live music in the Snow Drift lounge every weekend to the popular ‘Tap Takeovers’ featuring local artisan craft brew’s starting Saturdays in January,” Wagner said. “New for this season will be Warren Miller movie night on Fridays in the main resort.”