“Almost heaven” — it’s more than a line in a John Denver song. When you travel along West Virginia’s Highway 20 you may come as close to heaven as you can get and live to tell about it. Just beyond the cluster of stores, restaurants and hotels near the turnpike in Princeton, this country road leads you to some of the Mountain State‘s greatest treasures.
A large rock sign marks the entrance to Pipestem State Park, considered the “crown jewel” of West Virginia’s state park system. It gets its name from the hollow stemmed shrub Native Americans and later white settlers used as tobacco pipe stems.
via Gorges, falls and wooded hillsides highlight West Virginia retreat » Knoxville News Sentinel.
Bluestone State Park is a state park in Summers County, West Virginia. The 2,154-acre (872 ha)[3] park is located along the western shore of Bluestone Lake, an impoundment of the New River built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The park and lake are named after the Bluestone River, that flows into the New River at the park.
Bluestone State Park