Despite the name it was given by European settlers, there is nothing “new” about the river responsible for creating West Virginia’s New River Gorge. In fact, the river is believed to be the second oldest in the world, behind only the Nile.
The ancient river begins high in the Blue Ridge Mountains and runs about 360 miles through North Carolina and Virginia to West Virginia, where it meets the Gauley River to become the Kanawha River.
According to geological evidence, the river is believed to have begun running its current course about 65 million years ago. As it worked its way across the face of Appalachia, the river eroded away layers of shale and sandstone, leaving behind a visible record of the passage of time.
The river’s most famous — and arguably its most scenic — portion, the New River Gorge, is home to one of the great marvels of engineering, one of the most bio-diverse ecosystems found on the planet and countless opportunities for outdoor recreation.
The New River Gorge National River — stretching 53 miles from Bluestone Dam to Hawks Nest Lake — was established by Congress in November 1978 in order to help conserve and protect the area’s sites and objects. On May 7, 1983, the river’s first visitor center opened to the public near Fayetteville.
At the end of 2020, the New River Gorge National River was re-designated as the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, officially making it the 63rd national park and the 20th national preserve in the United States.
The re-designation was included in a year-end legislative package supported by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., along with U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va.
“The New River Gorge is truly one of West Virginia’s most treasured playgrounds and largest tourist attractions because of its whitewater rafting, hunting, fishing, outdoor sports and natural beauty,” said Manchin shortly after the re-designation was announced.
“This designation will increase the international recognition by highlighting West Virginia’s world-class beauty and resources. Over the last two years, we have met with outdoorsmen, businesses and local leaders and other interested groups to ensure this designation will promote the beauty and rich history of the New River Gorge while ensuring that the longstanding traditions of hunting and fishing are protected for generations to come,” he said.
The National Park and Preserve consist of 72,186 acres. The National Preserve is 64,495 acres, and hunting and fishing is allowed. The National Park side is 7,691 acres and consists of four areas: The Lower Gorge, Thurmond, Grandview and Sandstone Falls.
According to information jointly released by Capito and Manchin, the National Park Service is authorized to purchase over 3,700 acres from willing sellers of adjacent land for potential additions to the national preserve, allowing for the expansion of additional hunting opportunities and providing for improved public access into the preserve.
The centerpiece of the park and preserve is the New River Gorge Bridge, which at 876 feet above the riverbed is the third highest bridge in the United States. Until 2003, it was the world’s longest single-arch steel span.
The bridge, which is 3,030 feet long, weighs 88 million pounds, including 44 million pounds of steel. Its construction began in 1972 and cost around $37 million to complete.
Annually, on the third Saturday of October since 1980, except for the past two years because of COVID-19, the bridge has been closed for Bridge Day — West Virginia’s largest one-day festival. Pedestrians are permitted on the bridge on Bridge Day, and rappellers and parachutists from around the world to take turns jumping from the structure.
The re-designation has helped to bring international media attention to the region and what it has to offer, said West Virginia Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby.
“We’re getting positive reviews from all of the national and international media who have covered it,” she said. “We have been in nearly every major news outlet in the world for this new designation.”
The park was recently included in a list published by Time Magazine, declaring it one of the “world’s greatest places” to visit in 2021.
“We’re super excited about it because it tells the rest of the world something that we’ve always known, which is that it is truly one of the most amazing places,” Ruby said. “I always tell people that going to the Gorge for the first time is sort of like going to the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls — you’ll never forget that first time you see the New River Gorge.”
The area has seen an increase in new visitors since the re-designation and the subsequent media attention, Ruby said.
“We think this is just the beginning,” she said. “We’re still in this post-pandemic travel world, but even in that we’re seeing monumental increases in visitations. We’re really excited about the future.”
Plans are already in the works to continue growth and development in the park, Ruby said.
“We’re working with the National Parks Service and local leaders to make it easier to navigate,” she said. “We want folks to know where all the access points are, to know all the different trails and to know what to do. But we’re also looking at how we can get folks to stay longer in the area and how we can get them to contribute more to the communities.”
Gov. Jim Justice recently participated in an unveiling ceremony for highway signage to reflect the new national park status.
“I do really believe that we live in the greatest place on the entire planet,” Justice said. “We have known forever how great it is to be in West Virginia, but the problem was the outside world never got it. This has been a collaborative effort that is now a reality and it is on its way to becoming something that none of us could have ever even imagined. Continue to dream big!”
Jina Belcher, executive director of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, said the re-designation will aid her organization in its mission of marketing and promoting the surrounding area’s business community.
“A National Parks designation is a marketing tool in and of itself,” she said. “Folks are going to come here regardless of ever knowing about West Virginia or the national river. All we had to do was put a title on it.”
Fayette County recently commissioned Chicago-based Houseal Lavigne Associates to draft a study it will use for future comprehensive planning that will examine the expected economic impact of the re-designation, Belcher said.
“We are going through that process with them now to build out what a master strategy looks like for Fayette County specifically,” she said. “We feel like through this process and the comprehensive plan, we’re really going to be able to identify what the end-user experience is going to look like from the businesses’ perspective and the outdoor enthusiast and visitor experience perspective, while also identifying what the infrastructure build out needs to look like.”
The area already has seen an influx of potential investors eager to open new businesses near the nation’s newest national park, Belcher said.
“There is definitely no shortage of folks interested in building out recreation assets, in terms of lodging and campsites, to take advantage of that National Parks designation,” she said. “We are also now seeing some light manufacturers interested in the area, because the visitors here, that’s their end user so they are looking at how they can manufacturer their products in the area.”
Eve West, who was named chief of interpretation for the New River Gorge National River, Gauley River National Area and Bluestone National Scenic River in March 2020, said the “interpretation” part of her role involves helping visitors to understand the history and importance of the park itself.
“It actually means interpreting the story — whatever the story happens to be,” she said.
With the New River Gorge, there are endless stories to be told, West said.
“The New River is kind of an interesting park because there are so many different stories here to tell,” she said. “It really is a park for all people. I like to say that if you get bored here, then there’s a problem. There’s just so many things to see and do here — naturally, culturally and recreationally.”
With its flora and fauna, the park is considered to be the most botanically diverse river system in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, West said.
“We’ve got roughly 1,500 species of plants and the 65 species of mammals and a variety of salamanders, amphibians and reptiles,” she said. “There is tremendous biodiversity in this park.”
The length of the New River partially accounts for the wide variety of plants and wildlife that have come to call it home, West said.
“A lot of plants and things made their way up the river and we’re at the northern boundary. Then a lot of plants migrated south from the glaciers, because the glaciers never covered this area,” she said. “So this area truly is a meeting ground of a lot of different things and it’s part of the reason we’ve got so much stuff here.”
The vast differences in elevation across the park also account for its diversity, West said.
“The highest point top-to-bottom in the park is at Grandview, and that’s 1,400 feet from the brim all the way down to the river,” she said. “Within that 1,400 feet, in say March or April, you can be standing at winter at the top, but you can hike down to the bottom and be in spring or summer.”
There are also many stories told about the park’s rich cultural history, West said.
“We tell the coal mining story, about how the New River helped to fuel the Industrial Revolution and then we tell the railroading story here as well,” she said. “We tell the logging story, how the logging helped support the coal mining and the railroading as well.”
Within each of the park’s larger stories are its “sub-stories,” the surprising anecdotes illustrating often overlooked instances in its past, West said.
“Henry Ford leased the mines here from 1920 to 1929 to fund his auto factories in Dearborn, Michigan,” she said. “That’s kind of a national connection that we have here.”
Mary “Mother” Jones, the legendary union organizer and activist, spent time in the area, as did the writer and historian Carter Woodson, who is often referred to as the “Father of Black History,” West said.
“Carter Woodson was actually a coal miner here,” she said. “He attributed his work ethic to the fact that he worked the coal mines here. He was a teacher here as well.”
The majority of those who visit the park come to take part in one of its many recreational offerings, West said.
“We have 100 miles of hiking and biking trails in the park for a variety of different users. For the people who are really into major hiking for physical fitness, we have that, or we have just the nice easy strolls along the river as well,” she said. “We have 13 miles of single-track mountain bike trails designed just for mountain biking. That’s something you don’t find in a lot of national parks.”
The Gorge and its surrounding areas are also home to some of the best rock climbing spots on the east coast, West said.
“We have 3,000 named rock climbing routes in the region,” she said.
The New River features seven miles of Class IV and Class V rapids, West said.
“That attracts people from all over the world to come here,” she said.
Regardless of which area of the park you choose to visit, there are plenty of breathtaking views, West said.
“It’s easy to make yourself look like a good photographer here, I always like to say,” she said. “This is a real eye candy park. There are beautiful views around every corner. You get a different feeling of the park if you’re up high looking down into the gorge or if you’re down in the river looking up.”
West Virginians, travelers and adventurers have long considered the New River Gorge area among the state’s premier destinations, but the re-designation has let the rest of the world know, West said.
“Those of us who work here, live here, play here have always known this was a special place, but it was kind of off of the radar a little bit and I think there’s something about that National Park designation which does open up people’s eyes,” she said.
Thurmond, the state’s least populated municipality, is also owned by the National Park Service for the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West said.
Once a thriving coal town, Thurmond now has a population of two, according to U.S. Census data.
“Thurmond was the epicenter of the park during the heyday of coal mining,” West said. “In 1910 it was the busiest depot in terms of freight revenue as any depot in the country. It had twice as much freight as Cincinnati and Richmond, Virginia combined.”
Roughly 70,000 people got on and off the train at Thurmond in 1910, West said.
“It was kind of a happening little spot,” she said. “But now what we have to visit down there is we’ve taken the depot and restored it to roughly the 1920s look and that’s now a visitors center that’s open seasonally.”
Visitors can also tour what was once Thurmond’s downtown business district, West said.
“You can’t go inside them, you’re outside between the commercial row and the railroad tracks, but it really gives you a feeling for what it might have been like to be in Thurmond back in those days,” she said.
The portion of the area known as the Lower Gorge is where the most popular attractions can be found, West said.
“The Lower Gorge is where you find your whitewater rafting, your rock climbing and some of your more extreme outdoor recreational sports and that’s where Bridge Day occurs, she said. “That’s roughly an area of about 4,000 acres.”
The park has seen an increased number of visitors in recent months, but it’s difficult to tell how many of those visitors are coming purely because of the re-designation, West said.
“It’s hard to really delineate between what’s because of the designation and what’s because of COVID,” she said. “Parks are busier, nationwide, right now.”
From Jan. 1 to June 30, visitations to the park rose around 25% over the previous year, West said.
“People are coming here because they want their national park passport stamped,” she said. “They want to become junior ranger at the newest park, they want take their picture in front of the sign.”
Around the middle of October, the New River Gorge area becomes a prime destination for fans of fall foliage, West said.
“Because of the elevation change in the park, you can see the color changing starting at the top and moving down the gorge,” she said. “Sometimes there can be an eight to 10 degree difference in temperature from top to bottom as the seasons begin to change. It’s a wonderful time of the year for a hike.”