West Virginia: Resort, Water and Family
DAY
TWO
Resort,
Water, and Family
Pipestem
Resort State Park is located in the southern part of West
Virginia in the Bluestone River gorge.
It is over 4,000 acres of lush green forests with two hotels, wood
cabins, golf course, restaurants, and other fun outdoor activities tucked
inside. The name “Pipestem” is a narrow
leaf meadowsweet shrub known for making pipe stems.
We woke up to fog and chilly weather. We had breakfast at the restaurant at a table
next to the large windows looking out on a breathtaking view. We were treated to a couple of foxes who came
out of the brush to check things out.
The first place we planned to see on this day was to visit
Sharon’s sister. She lives near the town
of Hinton in Summers County. After a
couple of stops to photograph abandoned places, we drove past the Bluestone Dam
and Lake. We just had to stop and take
in the beauty and shoot a few pictures.
The
Bluestone Dam and Lake:
Along the road from Pipestem to Hinton in West Virginia, you will run
into the Bluestone Dam and lake. This
over 10 mile stretch of water provides visitors with boating and fishing
opportunities. Around the blue waters
are places for picnicking and camping. The area also provides more activities to keep you and your family very
busy. The Bluestone Dam’s construction
started in early 1941, was halted in 1944 because of WWII, and recommenced in
1946. The concrete gravity dam was
finished in 1949 and situated approximately upstream from where the New and
Greenbrier Rivers met. This massive dam
is about 165 feet high and over 2,000 feet long. The latest information on the dam is because
fears of flooding at the site, engineers had 8 feet of anchors and thrust
blocks added to the height to tie the dam into the bedrock. They enhanced the spillway and did other major
improvements to keep the dam safe.
After the stop, we were on our way to her sister’s
house. The area she lives in may be
small, but we managed to run into construction.
Since we couldn’t get near her house at this moment, we gave her a call
and headed towards Sandstone Falls. This
place is a must see if you are ever in the area.
Sandstone
Falls: Approximately 10
miles from Hinton, WV and down amazing scenic roads are where the Sandstone
Falls are located. These falls are the
most prevalent waterfalls found on the New River and span over 1500 feet wide
and descend around 10 to 25 feet. The
wearing away of the soft conglomerate rock layer below the sandstone layers is
how the falls were fashioned. The falls
were named after the sandstone and are surrounded by huge boulders in the New
River Gorge.
There are several places to take in the scenic view of the
falls. You can take the road from Hinton
directly to the falls. Along I-64 and
off exit 139 is the Sandstone Visitor Center.
This place has many exhibits and information on the falls, cultural
history of the river and surrounding areas.
On the other side of the river along Route 20 there are a couple of
scenic overlooks for you to stop at.
These provide you with breathtaking views and lots of photo opts. Just passed the parking lot is a sign with a
little history about the falls and a wood bridge which takes you over the river
and gives you a great view of the descending waters. The path winds around throughout the
surrounding woods and takes you to another bridge. We saw some men relaxing and fishing near the
falls. The Sandstone Falls are
definitely a place for you to visit if you are ever in West Virginia.
It was tough to leave this place, but we still had to visit
Sharon’s sister. On the road back, we
noticed a small cemetery on a hill and just had to stop. I love the old cemeteries with worn out
headstones. Even though the cemetery was
nice, a small house sitting out in the middle of the prairie caught our eyes. It was empty, and a bit creepy. We also heard a weird noise coming from the
forest behind the house which gave us chills.
We could not explain what it was.
After we left there, I finally met Sharon’s sister and we had a nice
visit. We did cruise around Hinton and found some places to photograph. We planned to come back to some of them and get a reading for our next abandoned book.
For the evening, we were invited to her brother’s house for
dinner. It was a wonderful drive through
the countryside. Before we stopped at his
home, we made a stop at her brother Scott’s grave. He died at a young age and she was close to
him. After a wonderful dinner at her
brother’s house, we visited her Aunt and headed back to Pipestem in the
dark. She got turned around and we ended
up on a dark, two-lane road that winded down inside the forest. This area has had many Bigfoot sightings so
we kept our eyes out for the big fella.
No Bigfoot, but just the end to another eventful day.
Comments
Post a Comment