• New River flowing through the gorge

    New River Gorge

    National River West Virginia

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  • Cunard Road construction completed

    Construction on the Cunard Road has been completed and the road is now open. Access may be delayed at times while striping is being painted.

  • Rend Trail closure

    Repairs to the stone retention wall will cause closures from June through September, 2013. More »

Places

historic building at Thurmond
 

Hiking or driving through New River Gorge today will provide glimpses of old stone walls, foundations of homes and buildings, coal mine entrances, and coke ovens decaying alongside the railroad tracks. These places provide tangible reminders of the days when the coal coming out of New River Gorge fueled the industrialization of our nation.

 
ruins at Kaymoor

Kaymoor: Once one of the largest and most productive coal operations in the gorge, Kaymoor provided the coal that supported the Virginia iron industry in the late 1800's and early 1900's. more…

 
Thurmond Depot

Thurmond: During the first two decades of the 1900's, Thurmond was a classic boomtown with 15 passenger trains coming through town each day. more…

 
historic photo of a lumber mill at Hamlet

Glade Creek/Hamlet: The piers of the abandoned Glade Creek Railroad Bridge today mark the site of a former lumber mill and the remains of the company logging towns of Glade and Hamlet. more…

 
Historic photo of soldiers on the New River

Army Camp: Camp Prince, or Army Camp, served as a training and testing ground for assembling floating bridges during the Korean War. more…

 
historic photo of Royal

Royal: Now nearly totally reclaimed by the forest, the town of Royal was once the site of the first coal mining company in Raleigh County. more…

 
Nuttallburg tipple

Nuttallburg: The coal town of Nuttallburg, once run by Henry Ford, remains today as one of the most intact examples of an early coal mining complex in the country. more…

 
old stairs in the woods

McKendree Hospital: Also know as Miner's Hospital Number 2, McKendree Hospital opened its doors in 1901 to provide medical care for miners injured in the New River coal mines. more…

 
old farmhouse

Mill Creek and the Harrah Farm: The Harrah Farm is an example of a subsistence farm active until the 1980's. more…

 
historic photo of Sandstone School

Sandstone School: Now the site of the Sandstone Visitor Center, Sandstone School educated local students from 1925 through 1994. more…

 
Quinimont Church

Quinnimont: The first coal shipped out of New River Gorge in 1873 came from the town of Quinnimont, named for the five mountains that surround it. more…

 
Trump-Lilly Farm

Trump-Lilly Farm: The collection of buildings preserved at Trump-Lilly Farm take visitors back to the early days of Appalachian subsistence farming. more…

Did You Know?

View of Claypool Falls

The many tributaries of the New River Gorge provide an abundance of cascades and waterfalls on their descent to the New River.