42 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in West Virginia - Atlas Obscura

Unusual
Attractions
in West Virginia

The Ferris wheel

Rock, West Virginia

Lake Shawnee Amusement Park

This abandoned amusement park was built on an American Indian burial ground. Seriously.

37.4248, -81.2113

Added by kelseythomas

Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum

Weston, West Virginia

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

A particularly creepy abandoned asylum which sparks interest with the morbid and the ghost hunters.

39.0384, -80.4673

Added by cinapelayo

Thurmond's Main Street. (LeahC/Atlas Obscura)

Thurmond, West Virginia

Thurmond, West Virginia

Once connected to the outside world by a single train track, a boomtown-turned-ghost town.

37.9615, -81.0823

Mothman Museum

Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Mothman Museum

A small storefront museum explores the history and myth of West Virginia's famous urban legend.

38.8428, -82.1386

Added by Jane Weinhardt Goldberg

Mystery Hole

Ansted, West Virginia

Mystery Hole

The "mysteries" of this quintessential roadside oddity were almost destroyed by neglect but were saved by fans of kitschy wonder.

38.1240, -81.1411

Added by ellenshenk

Moundsville, West Virginia

West Virginia State Penitentiary

Beyond your average beatings and shankings, this pen has a pretty bloody undercurrent running through its history.

39.9175, -80.7432

Added by Nicholas Jackson

Nuttallburg

Fayetteville, West Virginia

Nuttallburg

Hikers can still stroll beneath the long conveyer of this abandoned mining facility hidden in a West Virginia river gorge.

38.0539, -81.0415

Added by outdoors602

One of the TNT Area's distinctive "igloo" bunkers

Point Pleasant, West Virginia

TNT Area

Scene of some of the infamous Mothman sightings.

38.9256, -82.0721

See All 42 Things to Do in West Virginia See All 42 Places

Unique
Food & Drink
in West Virginia

Snow Cream

Gastro Obscura

Snow Cream

Ice cream made with fresh snow is a beloved Southern tradition.

Gastro Obscura

Added by Sam OBrien

Ohio Valley-Style Pizza

Gastro Obscura

Ohio Valley-Style Pizza

In parts of Ohio, pizza topped with cold, unmelted mozzarella reigns supreme.

Gastro Obscura

Added by Ike Allen

Roadkill Cook-Off

Gastro Obscura

Ritual & Medicinal

Roadkill Cook-Off

West Virginia's annual competition features the likes of squirrel gravy over biscuits and snapping turtle stew.

Gastro Obscura

Added by Sam OBrien

Are we missing a unique food or drink in West Virginia?

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Recent West Virginia Activity

alohaxally wants to go to New Vrindaban Palace of Gold

alohaxally wants to go to Archive of the Afterlife

alohaxally wants to go to Nuttallburg

alohaxally wants to go to Mystery Hole

Atlas PhD wants to go to Congressional Fallout Shelter at the Greenbrier Resort

Stories
About West Virginia

Engraving of salt works on Kanawha River, West Virginia.

Making Salt From an Ancient Ocean Trapped Below the Appalachians

West Virginia was once a seabed.

by Eric J. Wallace

January 08, 2018

A "sea devil" from Icones animalium (1553).

Where to Find the World's Best Hometown Monsters

Here are 25 places to see yetis, sea monsters, Sasquatch, and other cryptids.

by Molly McBride Jacobson

February 24, 2017

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