8 Most Breathtaking Towns In West Virginia

At Harpers Ferry, the Potomac and the Shenandoah meet below cliffs that Thomas Jefferson once climbed to survey. Near Fayetteville, a steel arch carries traffic 876 feet above the New River. Davis stands higher than any other incorporated town in West Virginia at 3,520 feet in the Allegheny highlands. Hinton kept the brick storefronts of a Victorian railroad boom along the New River. Each of these eight towns is built around a piece of dramatic mountain scenery.

Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry sits where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet, and the water gap they cut through the Blue Ridge is the view Thomas Jefferson praised after climbing to the rock outcrop now called Jefferson Rock in 1783. More than 20 miles of hiking trails run through Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and the restored Lower Town, ranging from easy riverside paths to steep climbs. The Appalachian Trail passes through the park, and hikers walking its full 2,190-plus miles reach the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters here, near the route's traditional halfway mark. Along the Lower Town streets, the historical candy sold at True Treats has appeared as a clue on Jeopardy and in an episode of the History Channel's The Food That Built America.

Buckhannon

Locals call Buckhannon "The Friendly City," and its walkable downtown is lined with locally owned cafes, restaurants, and boutiques, set against a full calendar of festivals in the Allegheny Mountains. Guests stay overnight at the Bicentennial Inn downtown, where the 88 Lounge has live music and a cocktail menu. The West Virginia Strawberry Festival and Buckhannon RiverFest, two of the town's biggest annual events, both return each year. A short drive away, Audra State Park runs along the Middle Fork River, where the Alum Cave Trail starts on gentle ground before the footing turns rockier. Hikers who come in late spring pass through rhododendron and mountain laurel in bloom, then reach the cliffside boardwalk at Alum Cave, with the river below.

Fayetteville

Fayetteville is the base town for New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, which covers more than 70,000 acres along one of the oldest rivers in the world. The Canyon Rim Visitor Center is a good starting point, with exhibits, a park film, a bookstore, and an overlook facing the New River Gorge Bridge. The bridge is the third-highest in the United States and the longest steel span in the Western Hemisphere, and the Long Point trail reaches a viewpoint of it on the opposite rim. Vehicles cross the bridge rather than pedestrians, but on guided Bridge Walk tours, visitors cross a catwalk 25 feet below the roadway, harnessed the whole way. Grandview is another vantage point, where the Main Overlook stands about 1,400 feet above the river, and downtown has the Historic Fayette Theater and the Cathedral Cafe.

Hinton

Bluestone Dam backed up the waters of Bluestone Lake in 1950, and the 2,040-acre reservoir now sits at the edge of Hinton in Bluestone State Park. The park lies where the Bluestone and New Rivers join, with boating, fishing, and hiking trails around the shore. Summer visitors can cool off at a swimming pool and splash park during the hotter months. Downtown, the storefronts of a Victorian-era railroad town still stand in the Hinton National Historic District, set among the surrounding hills. Residents celebrate the town's railroad past each October at the Hinton Railroad Days Festival, when vendors, food, live entertainment, and carriage rides come to the downtown streets, and visitors can stay, eat, and shop in the district at The Guest House, The Market on Courthouse Square, and Otter and Oak.

Davis

Davis is the highest incorporated town in West Virginia, set at 3,520 feet in the heart of Tucker County. The town lies along the Blackwater River a few miles north of Canaan Valley, with wide public lands on nearly every side. Fishing, biking, boating, camping, and nature photography fill the acreage of Blackwater Falls State Park, Canaan Valley Resort State Park, and the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Blackwater Falls drops in a 57-foot cascade, its amber color coming from tannic acid released by fallen hemlock and red spruce needles upstream. Back downtown, visitors can take a break from the trails at The Ice Cream Shop and browse work by local artisans at the Emerald Tree Boutique.

Elkins

Elkins is the closest town to the Dolly Sods Wilderness, a 17,000-acre high plateau in the Monongahela National Forest known for windswept boulders and northern bog terrain. Visitors reach the scenery several ways: hiking along the Tygart Valley River at the Fox Forest Wildlife Management Area, climbing to the Bickle Knob Observation Tower, or riding Mountain Rail West Virginia into the backcountry aboard the New Tygart Flyer. That diesel-powered excursion train follows the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River up to the High Falls of Cheat, and passengers ride in climate-controlled coaches with lunch included. Riders can grab a pint at Fox Hops Brewery downtown afterward. Each fall, the Mountain State Forest Festival program runs to a road race, a lumberjack contest, highland dancing, Irish road bowling, and craft and forestry exhibits around town.

Summersville

Summersville has a busy downtown events calendar. The Potato Festival runs downtown each September, with live music, craft vendors, a potato sack race, a spud hunt, a 5K, and a "Potato Idol" contest. In October, cryptid enthusiasts gather for the West Virginia Bigfoot Festival, one of the largest events of its kind in the country. Just south of town, Summersville Lake holds emerald water and roughly 60 miles of shoreline. The rock cliffs around the water rank among the best climbing in the eastern United States, and climbers travel from far outside the state to reach Pirates Cove in particular. The Summersville Lake Lighthouse rises 104 feet nearby, above the lake and the Gauley River National Recreation Area.

Morgantown

Morgantown is home to West Virginia University, and it ranks among the more scenic college towns in the country, spread along the Monongahela River. Sports fans fill the stands for Mountaineers football and basketball in season, while hikers head a few miles east to Coopers Rock State Forest. Downtown, guests book the Hotel Morgan, catch a show at the Metropolitan Theatre, and grab local beer at the Mountain State Brewing Company taproom nearby. In spring, WVU holds a festival at its Core Arboretum, with wildflower walks, live music, and food trucks. In fall, leaf-peepers head to Coopers Rock for roughly 50 miles of trails past canyon overlooks, historic sites, and sandstone cliffs.

Scenery Worth The Drive

These eight towns sit in one state, but the scenery around each one differs. Harpers Ferry has its river confluence and Civil War streets, Fayetteville its gorge and steel arch, Davis its high-elevation waterfalls, and Morgantown its riverside campus and forest overlooks. Picking among them comes down to what kind of landscape a traveler wants to stand in front of. For some that is the Victorian railroad district in Hinton, and for others the windswept plateau reached through Elkins.