Founded in 1766, the Omni Homestead rivals the Greenbriar. Remember these were both in Viriginia when founded as West Virginia didn’t become a state until 1861. A little less pretentious and right in the middle of town, we drove through a residential area (reminiscient of the Grove Park Inn) onto the grounds into a parking lot. the massive red-brick, Federal style hotel looked very Thomas Jefferson. The sun glistened on visitors sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch.
Come sit for a spell on the veranda
Inside, a large 2-story, classical lobby, also with palladium windows but not a zillion varieties of chintz, greeted us. At the far end, a more casual restaurant bar with more updated furnishings awaited. (more…)
We stopped by the New River Gorge Bridge en route to Charleston. Unfortunately, the clouds thickened and blocked the view. We didn’t really realized we’d driven over it until we saw the sign for the Visitor Center which had closed an hour before. We decided we’d return before leaving in a few days.
Our map took along a windy road, US 16 (Beckwith Road) to scenic route 60 through Gauley Bridge where we passed a waterfall and Glen Ferris. The road hugged the curves of the river was beautiful and we passed several small towns. Then we came upon Kanawa Falls. We turned into the parking lot which seemed to be a big fishing spot, but nothing else, to take a few pictures.
Kanawha FallsOne of the coal towns along the route
We drove past Charlton Falls, Alloy (which seemed a bit bigger), Boomer and Smithers – even passing a coal train. As we drove along the river, we entered Charleston. Although it only has 61,000 people, it seems like a huge metropolis compared to the small towns we drove through to get there. Two- story houses fronting the river dotted the road. Then, the capital popped up. It looked like there was a prom as students dressed in cocktail attire stood on the front steps. (more…)
Our first stop in Beckley was the Exhibition Coal Mine, which includes admission to the Youth Museum. We drove into a mini-town (still in the center of Beckley) with buildings – a church, house, etc. It was almost hard to find the museum to enter. Once inside we purchased tickets for the coal mine tour. Departing every 30 minutes, we had 25 minutes to explore the museum upstairs.
At the top of the stairs, wide rectangular, black and white photos of entire coalworkers greeted us. Along the walls, montages displayed various themes with a placard explaining the items. One was rudimentary medical instruments used by the doctors – even if you didn’t need a doctor, the item was deducted from the miner’s paycheck – lunch pails – which were metal and had three horizontal compartments – the bottom was for water, then the food and on top was for pie/dessert. I guess you’d need pie every day to deal with those working conditions. Another montage showed tools – one with a tool you hooked on to your stomach to drill and a picture of a miner using it. Another display case showed miner’s id tags that were used to show who was in the mine.
The museum at the Exhibition Coal Mine
The curator announced the “boarding call” so we walked outside to the depot where we sat on two – open air trolley trains. Leroy announced, “Ready for work?” The older, skinny man was a former miner and his father had been too. He drove us in into the black tunnel lit every few feet with electric lighting. I thought we’d go down, but instead we were horizontally inside the mountain. (more…)
Between the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV and the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA lies Covington, VA. The Humpback Bridge is one of the last covered bridges and it is absolutely splendid.
Humpback Bridge
The other thing worth seeing in the area is the Falling Spring waterfall, which is right off the side of the road. (more…)
