9 West Virginia Towns With A Slower Pace Of Life

Some days are worth stretching out, with nowhere to be and no clock running. West Virginia keeps plenty of towns built for exactly that. A Friday in Shepherdstown can pass inside Four Seasons Books, with a coffee from Lost Dog a few doors down. White Sulphur Springs fills its afternoons with tee times at the Greenbrier and long dinners at Gustard's Bistro. People in Berkeley Springs still soak in the mineral baths that drew visitors here two centuries ago. These nine West Virginia towns keep their populations small and their calendars open, which leaves room to slow down.

Buckhannon

Audra State Park makes a good first stop near Buckhannon, with the Middle Fork River running through it and trails for swimming, fishing, and spotting wildlife. The Buckhannon River adds another 45.4 miles of slow water, well suited to a lazy afternoon of canoeing. Back in town, Stone Tower Brews pours the coffee locals stop in for, either at a table or in a cup to go. From there it is an easy walk to the Buckhannon Antique Mall, where the aisles run deep in vintage furniture and old dinnerware. An hour of browsing turns up more than you expect.

Shepherdstown

Cross the Potomac into Maryland and you can pick up the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath, a 184.5-mile route with a flat, shaded surface made for a long walk or an unhurried bike ride. To see the river from the water instead, Shepherdstown Pedal and Paddle rents kayaks and canoes and runs a shuttle to the put-in. Lost Dog Coffee, part coffee shop and part arts space, is where the town gathers for a drink and a slow morning. A five-minute walk down West German Street leads to Four Seasons Books. The shelves reward the kind of visit where you lose track of the time.

Harpers Ferry

True Treats Historic Candy doubles as a museum, with recreated sweets shelved by the decade they came from, so a stop here takes longer than a candy shop usually does. A block on, John Brown's Fort still stands as the 19th-century engine house where the 1859 raid ended. The Maryland Heights Trail runs roughly 4.5 to 6.5 miles round trip, climbing past Civil War earthworks to a long view back over the town. For a gentler pace, River Riders runs flat-water tubing trips on a calm stretch of the Shenandoah. The current does most of the work.

White Sulphur Springs

The Greenbrier Resort and Spa books mineral-water treatments that give this town its name and its reputation for a slow, restorative day. Golfers come for the resort's championship courses, several of which have hosted professional tournaments. Just outside town, Greenbrier State Forest covers more than 5,100 acres of hiking and mountain-biking trails through hardwood ridges. Dinner runs long at Gustard's Bistro on East Main Street, where the outdoor tables are the ones to ask for. You get a plate worth lingering over and a stretch of sidewalk worth watching.

Elkins

Elkins keeps a walkable historic downtown, where locally owned shops and restaurants fill blocks of solid older buildings. About 10 miles northeast, the Bickle Knob Observation Tower looks out from a mountain summit over ridge after ridge of the Monongahela National Forest. The slowest way to take in the country around town is the New Tygart Flyer. The train runs roughly four and a half hours out of Elkins, following the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River to the High Falls of Cheat. You sit still while the scenery moves past the window.

Point Pleasant

Tu-Endie-Wei State Park sits where the Kanawha meets the Ohio, a small green point made for a slow walk along the water. The Mansion House Museum inside the park keeps artifacts from the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant and everyday life in the late 18th century. A short way upriver, Point Pleasant Riverfront Park lines the Ohio with murals and statues that retell the same battle. Fort Randolph, a reconstruction of the colonial-era fort, rounds out the history. You can tour the grounds on your own or join an interpreter who fills in the story.

Davis

Blackwater Falls State Park spreads about 20 miles of trails around its 57-foot namesake waterfall, the tallest in the state. Elakala Falls, Pendleton Point Overlook, and Lindy Point give you three more places to stop and look without much of a climb. A longer drive reaches Bear Rocks Preserve, where blueberry and huckleberry shrubs edge the trails and the land opens onto wide valleys. Nearby, the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge protects habitat for migratory birds and plants more common far to the north. It is a quiet place to spend a morning with binoculars.

Berkeley Springs

Berkeley Springs State Park sits in the middle of Berkeley Springs, where you can soak in the warm mineral waters at one of the historic bathhouses. Cacapon Resort State Park, a short drive south, opens up more than 6,000 acres for fishing and mountain biking when you want a livelier afternoon. The Star Theatre, built in 1916 as an automobile garage, now shows features and classic films on a single screen each weekend. On the edge of town stands the Berkeley Springs Castle, a Victorian-era stone house of more than 9,000 square feet. You can admire it from the public viewpoints, though it rarely opens for tours.

Lewisburg

The Briergarten takes its cue from the beer gardens of Berlin and Bavaria, a relaxed spot for a pint and a plate of bratwurst or a West Virginia pepperoni roll. A short way out of town, Lost World Caverns drops about 120 feet underground on a self-guided route that takes around 45 minutes to walk. Back on the surface, the North House Museum and Archives fills a Federal-era building with local history. The grounds include an 1820s house, a medicine garden, and rotating exhibits. Lewisburg rewards an afternoon spent on foot, one block at a time.

Slowing Down In West Virginia

Stepping away from a packed routine does real good, and these towns make it easy to do. A morning on the trails at Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis clears the head as well as any weekend away. A long lunch with friends at the Briergarten in Lewisburg trades a busy schedule for something better. Small towns like these give West Virginians a place to ease off, whether for a weekend or for the long run.