Wander Words

Grandview State Park is located in Raleigh County, only a short distance from Beckley, West Virginia and is appropriately named for the many grand and spectacular views. The scenery is some of the best you’ll ever see!

The park offers hiking trails, picnic areas, playgrounds and game courts. There are overlooks, such as Turkey Spur, Main Overlook and North Overlook, which provide breath-taking views of mountains and the New River. A view 1400 feet down, you can see the town of Quinnimont, which holds history of where coal first shipped out of the gorge in the 1800’s.

An array of Rhododendrons, which is the state flower of West Virginia, can be seen blossoming brilliant pink in May and white in the deep woods on the gorge’s rim, in June. Many visitors flock to the park just to see this beauty of nature.

Local farmers mostly used this area for picnics until 1950 when it was developed into the West Virginia Park System. Grandview is also the name of the near-by community.

Cliffside Ampitheatre is located within the park and well-known for its outdoor musical dramas in the summer months, including “The Hatfields and McCoys”.  Another drama is “Honey in the Rock”, which is a picturesque story of the creation of West Virginia during the Civil War.

Grandview State Park has a visitor’s center that is open seasonally, with park rangers available. The park has something for everyone and is a perfect place to find a spot of tranquility or to test your hiking skills along the trails of forests and unique rock formations.

Kathy Dove wrote this on March 5th, 2008 and filed it under Travel, hiking, parks |