Welcome to New River Gorge National Park! From the lofty heights of its iconic bridge to the dark depths of its famous coal mines, this brand-new National Park is truly unlike anywhere else in America.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

It’s named for Tunney Hunsaker, a police chief from Fayetteville. Hunsaker is best known for another feat: He was Muhammad Ali’s first professional opponent! As you might imagine, Hunsaker lost the fight. Still, he didn’t make it easy for Ali.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Coming up in about half a mile is the Kaymoor Trail, a daunting 16-mile trail that runs alongside the gorge. But this trail isn’t just for hardcore hikers! Just 500 feet down the trail sits Wolf Creek Falls, tumbling beautifully down a series of rapids.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

If the name sounds a little familiar, it should. Fayetteville gets its name from the Marquis de Lafayette! That was the young Frenchman who became an essential advisor and general to George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

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From this viewpoint, we can look out over a dramatic horseshoe-shaped bend in the New River. The detour takes us a little off the beaten path, but this is one of the most iconic views in New River Gorge.

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In 1952, on the final night of the year, a snowstorm swept across the South. Williams found himself stuck in Montgomery, Alabama, where he hired a college student named Charlie Carr to drive him all the way to Ohio.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

We’re approaching Dunloup Creek Falls. Here, Dunloup Creek intersects with the New River, where it falls 20 feet down a stunning sandstone shelf.

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Like most towns in this area of West Virginia, Mount Hope’s story begins with the discovery of coal. In the late 1800s, miners found coal at nearby Turkey Knob. It was only a matter of time before the streets of Mount Hope were teeming with industrious miners and their families.

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We’re about to cross the Thomas Burford Pugh Bridge, which crosses the New River at the tiny town of Prince. Although we’ll drive over the bridge for free today, this wasn’t always the case. Back in the 1930s, each driver would have to pay a hefty fee of… 25 cents! Hey, that was a lot of money during the Great Depression!

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

At one time, nearly 500 people lived in Quinnimont. Almost everyone had some connection to the nearby mines.

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Up ahead are the remnants of Layland, a former coal town. Keep an eye out on our left in just a moment for a collection of abandoned coal company houses. These broken-down buildings were owned by the local mining company, who rented the homes to their impoverished workers.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

We’re now making our way through the small town of Meadow Bridge. While we’ve seen many coal towns today, this is our first real timber town. The nearby Meadow River Lumber Company once cut and sold millions of feet of lumber.

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Sandstone Falls are the largest series of falls on the entire New River! These falls formed over millennia, as the force of the New River eroded the soft rock beneath the layers of sandstone.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free