West Virginia Backroads Ramble: A 160-mile, Two-day Nirvana

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Yes, there are great leaf views along the way, and a great spot to watch the hawk migration as well.

With its twisty rivers, old mineral spring resorts, covered bridges and stunning mountain backdrops, southeastern West Virginia has to be a contender for the title of “Scenic Drive Capital of the U.S.” All manner of neat stuff shows up in your view when you’re tooling along two-lane roads at an unhurried pace. Carroty turk’s cap lilies, for instance. Or a highway sign in a secluded valley noting the home of the first U.S. woman journalist.

My nirvana is a rolling retreat in West Virginia, a 160-mile, two-day ramble through Monroe, Summers, and Greenbrier counties on routes 3, 219, 122, 12, 63, and 92.  The tour wanders past a Mennonite bakery, a hawk-watching observatory, a memorial to a legendary steel-driving man, and West Virginia’s oldest general store. It meanders into a formerly Confederate town named Union and flower-filled burg with its own Carnegie Hall. This is the kind of variety you find on backroads in West Virginia.

The route is punctuated with pull-off picnic areas built 70 years ago, and the eateries are the one-of-a-kind, family variety. The roadsides pop with blue and yellow wildflowers, and the radio stations coming in best are West Virginia Mountain Radio and country out of Roanoke, Virginia.

Before the Civil War, this was the place to come for the healing spring water and to rub shoulders with well-heeled society. Now folks visit to escape society, and the healing comes from outdoor recreation, relaxation, and immersion in hay-scented beauty.

Sweet, Sweet Springs

I get off the beaten path—Interstate 64—at Exit 183 and head, not toward The Greenbrier (which is a, sniff, rather young resort), but south on U.S. 311 toward the older Sweet Springs. Its grand lodge juts up from the rural landscape like a West Virginia Versailles. Thomas Jefferson is reputed to have designed the 1839 Georgian Colonial hotel, and George Washington most certainly did spend the night here—many times—as did James Madison, Patrick Henry and Gen. Robert E. Lee. Virginia Governor John Floyd sleeps here still, in a cemetery at across the road. 

The massive lodge, remnants of the classical bath house, and several two-story guest houses now stand empty while a nonprofit foundation raises the funds to save the structures and create a park which will put the hotel back in business.    

“Old Sweet,” as it was called, drew celebrities and noted statesmen before the Civil War, while nearby Salt Sulphur attracted the partiers and Red Sulphur Springs (of which nothing remains) the seriously ill. The younger Pence Springs appealed to those who sought a soak and others who disappeared into the basement for a Prohibition-era nip.

Old Sweet, with her 100,000-square-foot lodge, was the crown jewel of southern West Virginia springs. When the mineral water that surged warm from an artesian spring no longer lured guests over the mountain roads, the resort became a tuberculosis sanatorium, then a nursing home, and then sat empty while a string of investors failed to turn profits. Now Ashby Berkley, who renovated Pence Springs in the 1980s, has purchased Old Sweet and is leading the charge to put her back on her feet.

“I could not stand the thought that this building was going to fall down,” says Berkley, who thought he was retired until he bought the resort at auction in 2015 and created a nonprofit dedicated to restoring it.

The resort isn’t Sweet Springs Valley’s only historical property. Just down the road is a sign denoting the home of the first U.S. female journalist, Anne Royall. Royall came to the area as a servant for the wealthy Royall family and ended up marrying the patriarch. It wasn’t until he died and his family left her nearly penniless that she became a traveling journalist and newspaper publisher.

Before Sweet Spring’s lodge was built, guests who were perfectly innocent of any crime sometimes overnighted in the jail. Eager to see the region prosper, resort owner William Lewis built a courthouse and jail for the court system in 1795, using both as guest quarters in the off-season. The small stone building I spot in the hayfield beside the resort is said to be the oldest jail building west of the Alleghenies.

Across the road stands the state’s oldest Catholic church still in use. St. John’s Chapel isn’t used much—the occasional wedding, summer services and Assumption Day mass—but it continues a tradition started around 1850 by chapel founder, Letitia Floyd Lewis. After Assumption Day mass, her family served homemade ice cream to the community—something that often still happens here following the mid-August mass.

I’m a little early for Assumption Day, so I head south on Route 3 to Kitchen Creek Bakery and Cheese ‘N’ More at Gap Mills. I find the Mennonite-run bakery as instructional as a cooking show as I watch women shaping donuts and rolling out the dough for pepperoni rolls—the unofficial state food. The shop across the road deals in candy, deli sandwiches, local jams and bulk goods, and of course, cheeses. I pick up Bermuda onion cheddar and eat it on the porch.

This nibbling makes me want some exercise, so I follow Mountain Shadow Trail scenic byway (County Road 15) to Limestone Hill Road and shoot up Peters Mountain to the 1.5-mile footpath leading to Hanging Rock Observatory. The cedar cabin braces on a rock outcropping atop 3,812-foot Peters Mountain, the perfect 360-degree vantage for watching raptor migrations or the unfolding of the seasons. Visitors from 43 states have recorded their sightings of eagles and hawks, as many as 3,000 birds in a single day during peak fall migration. It’s windy up here, so I gaze at vultures gliding upward in the thermals from behind the picture windows.

Returning to the valley, I follow Route 3 toward Union. Just north of Gap Mills, I detour six miles to secluded Moncove Lake State Park. The 144-acre lake contains large-mouth bass, catfish and trout known to take the hook, but I’d rather just paddle. Rowboats, kayaks and paddle boats can be rented, and campers can choose among 48 campsites arranged in a semi-circle around the swimming pool. (304-772-3450 or wvparks/moncove)

Back on Route 3, I spot the sign for Rehoboth Church a few miles before Union. Since 1786, Rehoboth Church has hunkered in a dimple in the Monroe County hills, hidden to road travelers. Built when Shawnee Indians raided the region, the log church is sited so no one can slip within rifle-shot range unseen; it was considered a place of refuge.

Historic Union

The log structure, now a United Methodist shrine, is known as the oldest church west of the Alleghenies. In its dim interior, I test a backless, split-log bench where parishioners sat for three-hour sermons—a butt-numbing roost.  An iron plaque declares this a place for worship “as long as the grass grows and water flows,” but I’m not surprised that a congregation no longer sits for regular services. Rehoboth and its accompanying museum are open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday afternoons, May through October. 

After admiring the battered communion table itinerant preachers hauled between churches, I head to historic Union, a village without stoplights or chain eateries. Despite the town’s name, a large Confederate monument stands just north of Union on U.S. 219. Loyalties were mixed here. Local Hugh Tiffany was the first Confederate officer killed in the Civil War, and his former neighbor James Madison Harvey served as a captain in the Union forces, becoming governor of Kansas after the war. 

Although both armies crossed this area repeatedly, they were kind to Union—30 unscathed ante-bellum structures sit in Union’s downtown area. Elmwood, a four-story, pillared mansion recently renovated as an inn, was the home of Hugh Caperton, who served in both the U.S. and Confederate senates. The 1810 Wiseman House on Main Street, furnished with local antiques, is part of the Monroe County Historical Society. The adjoining museum contains early tools, Confederate relics and  Victorian clothing. In the nearby carriage house museum stands a magnificent 1880s omnibus used to transport the gentry to springs resorts, as well as other 19th century horse-drawn vehicles. The free museum is open Tuesdays-Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m. from June through October.

Route 219 follows West Virginia’s Mountain Music Trail. In Union, I sample local old-time Appalachian music at a jam held every Friday morning at the senior center. The lady in charge encourages me and other visitors to break out our instrument. I decline, in deference to my audience.  

“You’ll leave these jams with a new appreciation for traditional music, plus some new friends,” Ned Savage, the VISTA volunteer who helped organize the Mountain Music Trail, had said, and he was right.

Heading south from Union on Route 219, I spot a cluster of stone buildings at a bend in Indian Creek. The stone bath house, chapel, spring house and great lodge of Salt Sulphur Springs comprise the state’s largest complex of limestone buildings. In the early 1800s, hundreds of guests from all over the South converged here to revel in the sweetly sulfurous waters. People now gather here to celebrate weddings, and owner Betty Farmer still bottles water to treat her family’s ailments. The lodge accommodates overnight guests who fall asleep listening to the quiet riffling of Indian Creek as it heads south toward Indian Creek covered bridge.

The waters some folks take in this area have been turned to wine—Old World Libations’ meads, ciders, and wine.  Even if you’re not a big wine drinker, it’s hard to resist a beverage described as having “the bold flavors of cherry and currants with subtle hints of vanilla.” The winery is located off Rt. 219 eight miles south of Union on Route 122 at the edge of Greenville. The tasting room opens Friday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons as well as other times by appointment (304) 992-8424.

The Greenville community is known for music and Cook’s Old Mill, whose spring-fed stream flows out of a nearby cavern. The last several owners of the old grist mill at the western edge of town put energy into its restoration. The current owners, the Zieglers, created a picturesque setting where visitors may walk the grounds and picnic by the mill dam waterfall. They’ll even give tours if they’re not busy. 

In Forest Hill, where Rt. 122 hits Rt. 12, Marcia Springston-Dillon produces stunning stoneware in an old general store. Ironically, the renowned potter can’t see the bowls, vases and plates she generates. Blind since birth, Springston-Dillon creates with a delicate sense of touch. In fact, she can tell the color of a glaze by its feel. Green, she tells me, has a nice texture—not too slick and shiny. The shelves of her Wake Robin Gallery are lined with her work, including her specialty chili bowls with attached cracker platters. Handmade wooden gifts, local baskets, glass and other crafts made by regional artisans also help stock the shop. The gallery is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Following the River

Route 12 continues northward from Forest Hill, paralleling the Greenbrier River before it joins Rt. 3 and crosses Willow Wood Bridge toward Talcott.  I take an eight-mile side trip into Hinton for two good reasons: the coconut almond floats at Big Four Drug Store and the town’s attractive lodging possibilities. Several guesthouses perch on the hill above downtown, and Bluestone State Park’s cabins sit a few miles south. But for the quintessential river experience in this burg at the confluence of the New, Greenbrier and Bluestone rivers, I consider a night in the river—at the Cabin on Coney Island (877-854-2828). To cross the shallow waters here, you’ll need to rent a duckie or kayak from Cantrell Rafting (304-228-4285) but you reap the benefit in privacy and extra water fun in this easy stretch of river. 

For a town of less than 2,500, Hinton has more than its share of fine eateries at reasonable prices in the Market on Courthouse Square and Chessie’s. Other attractions are the Hinton railroad museum, the Ritz Theatre and the New River’s Sandstone Falls, where a boardwalk takes you close enough to feel the spray.  

Back on Routes 3/12, a stop at Talcott’s John Henry Park is a must, for the muscular John Henry sculpture as well as the ominous Big Bend railroad tunnel where legend says Henry died competing against a steam powered drill. The men who tunneled through the shale mountain in the 1870s found it a monstrous undertaking. Recurring rock falls killed many workers.

A few months after the first train passed through the tunnel, a massive rock fall killed an entire train crew. Rumors still abound about the ghosts in Big Bend Tunnel. Some say they’ve heard the eerie echo of Henry’s hammer striking steel or seen his ghost just inside the tunnel. On a hot summer day, the tunnel seemed almost inviting to me, but after hearing some of the stories at the John Henry Museum down the road, I had no desire to slip under the gate.

Despite the lush foliage along the Greenbrier River, the fertile valley has been considered a food desert. The small towns harbor no supermarkets and few people here—and in most of West Virginia—grow produce to sell. Less than four square miles of the state’s 24,230 total is used for growing fruits and vegetables for sale. An organization called Sprouting Farms north of Talcott is attempting to remedy the situation by teaching people how to farm and renting them land and greenhouse space to get started. Look for the greenhouses; budding farmers sometimes sell extra produce to passersby.

Amid the foggy ravines and craggy ridges, I try to imagine the hard life of the early pioneers. The sense of hardship reaches a climax at the Col. James Graham House in Lowell, a  three-story log home built in 1770 of foot-wide poplar beams to protect the family from the Shawnee Indians. The Indians quite understandably weren’t keen on European encroachment in their cherished hunting grounds. In 1777, Shawnees attacked the home, killing Graham’s 10-year-old son, a young slave, and a neighbor guarding the front door.  Seven-year-old Elizabeth Graham was kidnapped, and it was eight years before her father was able to locate her and trade a wagonload of jewelry and saddles for her return.

According to my tour guide, Matt Harvey, Elizabeth ran away several times settling down with a local white man at age 22. The Graham House and its accompanying schoolhouse are open Saturday and Sunday afternoons Memorial Day through Labor Day as well as for community dinners.

Around the next bend of the river sits the former Pence Springs Resort, now the Greenbrier Academy for Girls. The inn was opened in 1897 by Andrew Pence, who wanted to capitalize on the famed spring waters of the region. (Pence Springs’ water won the silver medal at the 1904 World’s Fair.) By 1926 the 60-room Georgian mansion was considered West Virginia’s grandest and most expensive hotel. During its heyday, 14 trains stopped here daily, bringing folks from as far away as New York. The day after the stock market crashed in 1929, however, the inn closed its doors, reopening later as a girl’s school, a dude ranch, a state-run women’s prison, and an inn again. Now the old hotel is a girls’ school again and closed to the public. But visitors can still visit the historic spring down the hill, sample the water and pick up bargains at the Pence Springs Flea Market every Sunday April through October.

I’ve been looking forward to Alderson, and not just because of the Martha Stewart cachet and the possibility I might score one of her knitted ponchos on the cheap. (Alderson, you may remember, is the home of the Alderson Federal Prison Camp where Stewart was imprisoned in 2004–5.)

No, I’m more interested in Sarah Alderson, the fourth generation owner of the Alderson Store, the oldest general store in West Virginia. She doesn’t have any knitted ponchos, but she does run the rare store where you can find a collection of new fedoras, outlandish clocks, a blizzard of snow globes, and close to every book on West Virginia recently published. Alderson, who left a career in television to take over the family business, now presides over an eclectic mix of modern and antique gifts, home decor, and clothing. The store is just across a pedestrian concrete-arch bridge from Route 12, in the business district beside the Amtrak station. It’s also within a block of the pretty Old Victorian Inn B&B.

West of Alderson, our tour on Route 63 turns right to twist along the valley in tandem with the Greenbrier to Ronceverte (ron-suh-vurt, French for “green brier”), where we rejoin Rt. 219 and the Mountain Music Trail. The American Heritage Music Hall, on Island Park promotes live heritage music, especially danceable old-time string band tunes. Jams are every Tuesday night and dances every fourth Saturday. 

Lewisburg, the Biggest Burg

When you reach Lewisburg, you’ve almost made it to Carnegie Hall, without the “practice, practice, practice.” One of only four Carnegie Halls in the world, the small, wide auditorium of this venue gives attendees the chance to experience dazzling musicianship, dance and literary talent up close and personal. What’s more, several times a year, anyone who wants to twirl on the oak floor of Carnegie’s stage can dance at one of Mountain Music Road’s square dances. I do a few steps on the empty stage and imagine an audience.  

Traditional American music by no means dominates the entertainment scene in this town of 3,900. On any week, you might choose among classical at Carnegie, blues at the Asylum, Americana at Greenbrier Brewing Company, and bright, blissful rock at Hill n Holler. Lewisburg is also home to the Greenbrier Valley West Virginia State Theater, six art galleries, nine local-owned restaurants and Sweet Ambler Spirits, named the nation’s best craft distillery in 2018. 

The North House Museum, across the lawn from Carnegie Hall, is eight rooms chock full of surprises… like the 1897 photo of 1,395 turkeys being herded through Lewisburg. Rooms are divided by periods and themes, so the gloves made by a child kidnapped by the Shawnees in the 1760s sit near the 47-pound gun enslaved Dick Pointer fired from nearby Fort Donnelly as he single-handedly held off the Indians while his master slept. The story is here, as is the tale of the Greenbrier Ghost, Zona Shue, who returned to convict her murderous husband.

Visitors who venture beyond town limits will find adventures in—and underneath—the local forests and rivers. The limestone terrain is carved with underground passages, and the town’s commercial cave—Lost World Caverns—offers both lighted and wild caving tours. Lost World is home to some of the nation’s largest formations as well as a natural history museum containing castings of dinosaur bones. To reach Lost World, follow Court Street 1.5 mi. north to 907 Lost World Drive.

Any time a fix of deep, quiet nature is in order, Blue Bend Recreation Area exerts a magnetic pull. As Anthony Creek rounds the bend, it becomes progressively deeper. Small children play safely in the shallow area bordered by a flagstone beach laid by Civilian Conservation Corps workers in the 1930s.

The trip to Blue Bend is an adventure in West Virginia backroads driving, including the bridge to Blue Bend. Locals sometimes refer to this as a “lay over road”; when you meet another vehicle you’d better “lay your right wheels over” on the unpaved right shoulder. Luckily, nobody drives very fast on these roads.

From Blue Bend east, it’s four flatter miles to Route 92, which has two lanes. From here, it’s only nine miles south back to I-64 and our starting point. 

More Lodging Possibilities

Cabin on Coney Island, Hinton; 877-854-2828, 304-466-8100, guesthousewv.com

Old Victorian Inn, 301 Railroad Ave., Alderson; 304-281-2507, oldvictorianinn.com

General Lewis Inn, 301 E Washington St, Lewisburg; 304-645-2600, www.generallewisinn.com

The story above first appeared in our September/October 2021 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!