Mountaineer Country

Mountaineer Country covers the seven counties — Barbour, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor — that fill north-central West Virginia between the Pennsylvania line and the central Allegheny ridges. The terrain is rolling plateau country broken by the Tygart Valley, Cheat, and Monongahela rivers, with steep hollows and small farms in between. Morgantown anchors Monongalia County as the home of West Virginia University and Coopers Rock State Forest’s overlooks above the Cheat. Clarksburg in Harrison County holds the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival each Labor Day weekend and the surrounding Bridgeport hospitality corridor; Fairmont in Marion holds Pricketts Fort State Park and the High Gate mansion; Philippi in Barbour holds the covered bridge that saw the first land battle of the Civil War; Kingwood in Preston County and the Cheat River canyon hold the Buckwheat Festival weekend each fall. Trips here usually start in Morgantown — the WVU campus and stadium itinerary on football weekends, Coopers Rock and the Cheat for outdoor weekends, and the wineries and small towns along US-19 and US-50 for slower drives. Fall foliage at Coopers Rock is the signature October scene.