john house author at My Family Travels
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Seven West Virginia Speedways Where Saturday Night Still Smells Like Hot Tires And Funnel Cake

Some of the best nights in West Virginia start on a gravel lot with a paper plate in your hand and a roar rolling down the hillside. You come for a cheap ticket and a hot dog,...

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This Hidden West Virginia Swimming Hole Sits Beneath A Waterfall Most Folks Never Find

Some of the best places in West Virginia never show up on a billboard or a brochure. You hear about them from a cousin, a fishing buddy, or an old-timer at the gas station who...

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West Virginia River Town Lets A Modest Pension Cover A River-View Home And Slow Mornings Downtown

Some places sneak up on you, the way a good cup of coffee does on a cool morning. I came to a small river town in West Virginia expecting a quick stop and left wondering what it...

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Seven West Virginia Glass Studios and Factories Where Artisans Still Shape Every Piece By Hand

You pull off a quiet West Virginia road expecting a quick look, and suddenly you are standing a few feet from a glowing furnace, watching someone turn a blob of orange fire into...

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Families Pack The Bleachers For A Real Rodeo At This West Virginia Arena You’d Never Expect

Some of the best nights in West Virginia start with a gravel road and a hunch. You follow a country lane past farm fields, half wondering if you took a wrong turn, and then you...

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A Historic Family Mill Waits At The End Of A Winding West Virginia Back Road

Some of the best memories in West Virginia start with a wrong turn, a gravel road, and a quiet voice saying we should keep going just a little farther. That is exactly the kind...

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Folks Load Up On Fall Apples For Pennies At These Seven West Virginia Orchards

Some of the best deals in West Virginia never show up in a sale flyer. They hang from a branch, wait in a wooden crate, or sit in a bushel basket by a farm stand door where the...

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Before Hollywood Had Glamour, This West Virginia Opera House Drew Crowds By Lamplight

Some of the best finds in West Virginia hide in plain sight, tucked along a quiet street you might drive right past on the way to lunch. I went looking for a good meal and a slow...

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Nobody Believes Us When We Say West Virginia Has A Real Castle Built By A Coal Baron

Tell a friend from out of state that a genuine stone castle sits on a ridge in West Virginia, and watch their eyebrows shoot up. I used to give that same look, right up until the...

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Seven West Virginia Comfort-Food Suppers Where A Home-Cooked Plate Still Costs Less Than Fast Food

There's a special kind of joy in pulling open a screen door in West Virginia and smelling gravy simmering on the stove. Somewhere between the red vinyl booths and the second cup...

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The Oldest Continuously Running Movie Theater In America Still Shows Films In This West Virginia Town

Some places in West Virginia hold onto their magic quietly, tucked along a small-town Main Street where you might drive right past without knowing what you missed. Imagine walking...

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Inside This Free Charleston Museum You Walk West Virginia’s Whole Story From Ancient Coal Forests To Today

Some of the best afternoons in West Virginia start by accident. You wander into a grand building expecting a quick look and end up staying for hours, wrapped in a story you never...

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Seven West Virginia Farm Stands Where A Basket Of Just-Picked Produce Costs Less Than The Grocery Store

There's a certain kind of joy that comes from pulling off a country road in West Virginia and finding a little market piled high with corn still warm from the sun. The smell of...

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Seven West Virginia Small-Town Soda Fountains & Ice Cream Shops Where A Scoop Still Costs Almost Nothing

Some of the sweetest memories in West Virginia hide behind screen doors on quiet main streets, where the whir of an old fountain and the clink of a metal spoon still cost next...

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You Can Sleep In A Real Caboose At Stone Run Station In Flatwoods, West Virginia

Some of the best stays in West Virginia aren't fancy hotels with fancy prices. Sometimes it's a little converted train caboose sitting right next to real railroad tracks, waiting...

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Way Back In The Hills, This West Virginia Wetland Shelters Rare Species Found Almost Nowhere Else

Tucked deep in the West Virginia mountains sits a place that feels like it belongs way up north in Canada instead of the heart of Appalachia. Here, the ground is spongy, the air...

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Seven West Virginia Lakes Where You Can Rent A Boat And Fish All Day For Almost Nothing

There's a special kind of joy in pushing off from a quiet dock in West Virginia, knowing a whole day on the water won't cost you much more than a tank of fuel. You don't need a...

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Every Spring This West Virginia Hillside Erupts With Wild Ramps Folks Drive Hours To Dig

There's a scent that drifts through the mountain air each spring, sharp and sweet all at once, and folks in West Virginia know exactly what it means. Somewhere on a shady hillside,...

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Way Up In The West Virginia Mountains, A Lonely Fire Tower Opens Onto Five Rolling Counties

Somewhere high in the West Virginia mountains, an old wooden tower still stands watch over miles of quiet forest. It once belonged to lonely lookouts who scanned the ridges for...

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This West Virginia Waterfall Drops Sixty-Three Feet In The Middle Of A Sleepy State Park

Some places sneak up on you. You round a bend in the mountains, follow a boardwalk through the trees, and suddenly there it is: a curtain of amber water tumbling into a deep gorge.

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Thirty-Five Dollars Fills Your Whole Backseat With Bargains At This Enormous West Virginia Flea Market

Sometimes the best days start with a spur-of-the-moment turn off the road, drawn in by nothing more than curiosity and the hope of a good find. Tucked into the capital city of...

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Long Before Coal, This West Virginia Salt Works Made The Town Richer Than Anyone Expected

Picture rolling hills and a winding river in West Virginia, where an ordinary-looking spot hides a story most folks never expect. Long before coal ruled these valleys, one humble...

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This West Virginia Neighborhood Is Packed With Grand Victorian Homes On Every Walkable Block

Some places sneak up on you when you least expect them. I turned off a busy road in West Virginia hoping for nothing more than a short walk, and instead I found block after block...

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Seven West Virginia County Fairs Where A Few Dollars Still Buys A Whole Day Of Fun

There is something about the smell of funnel cakes and the glow of a Ferris wheel at dusk that pulls you right back to childhood. Across West Virginia, small county fairs are quietly...

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Locals Fill Their Freezers At These 6 West Virginia Meat Counters That Beat Grocery Prices

Somewhere off a quiet West Virginia road sits a little butcher counter that most passersby never notice, yet the freezer at home tells a different story. The steaks taste richer,...

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An Entire West Virginia Glass Factory Still Blows Marbles The Same Way It Did A Century Ago

Some places you drive past a hundred times without ever guessing the wonder happening inside. Tucked along a quiet street in West Virginia sits a factory where molten glass still...

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Deep Inside This West Virginia Mountain Sits The Bunker That Was Built To Hide All Of Congress

Picture arriving at a grand old resort in West Virginia, famous for its mineral springs and fancy dining rooms, never guessing what waits below your feet. Beneath all that polish...

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Miners Once Dug Diamonds Out Of This West Virginia Hillside, And You Can Still Sift For Them

Every so often you find a place in West Virginia that feels bigger on the inside than it looks from the road. Picture towering sandstone walls, hidden little caves, and a shady...

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Locals Swear These 8 West Virginia Pepperoni Roll Bakeries Beat Anything The Grocery Shelf Sells

Somewhere in West Virginia, a warm pepperoni roll is sliding off a baking sheet right this minute, and once you taste one fresh, the plastic-wrapped grocery kind will feel like...

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This Hidden West Virginia Trail Winds Through A Silent Old-Growth Forest Older Than The Country Itself

Some of the best places in West Virginia hide right off the highway, waiting quietly for anyone curious enough to pull over. Along a stretch of forest near the New River Gorge,...

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West Virginia Locals Line Up At This Hole-In-The-Wall Spot For What They Swear Is The Best Breakfast In The State

Some of the best meals in West Virginia hide in the places you'd drive right past without a second look. Tucked into a corner most folks don't expect, there's a little breakfast...

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West Virginia Locals Keep Driving Across The State For The Golden Hash Browns At This No-Frills Diner

Some cravings sneak up on you when you least expect them, and in West Virginia there's one dish that has folks planning whole road trips just to get a plate. Tucked off the interstate,...

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This West Virginia Farm Lets You Watch a Bison Herd Roam—Then Take Their Meat Home

Some of the best places in West Virginia hide at the end of a gravel road, far from any highway sign. Picture yourself climbing a winding mountain drive, only to find a herd of...

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This Hidden West Virginia Beach Has Water So Clear You Can Count Pebbles On The Bottom

Some places in West Virginia stay quiet on purpose, tucked far enough off the main road that only the folks who really look ever find them. Imagine wading into water so clean and...

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This Ornate West Virginia Temple Hides Marble Craftsmanship You’d Never Expect to Find in the State

Picture driving through the quiet green hills of West Virginia, expecting nothing more than another country road, when suddenly a golden palace rises out of the trees like something...

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Standing Atop This West Virginia Peak Really Does Feel Like You’re On Top Of The World

Some places in West Virginia stay hidden until you climb high enough to find them. There's a spot deep in the mountains where the valleys fall away and the horizon stretches on...

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This Eerie West Virginia Asylum Is So Creepy You Wouldn’t Want To Wander It After Dark

Some places in West Virginia look ordinary from the road, then grab hold of you the second you step inside. Tucked away in a quiet mountain town sits a giant stone building that...

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This Tiny West Virginia Town Fills Its Slow Streets With Mountain Views And Old-Fashioned Antiques

Some places in West Virginia don't shout for attention. They sit quietly beside a river, wrapped in green hills, waiting for you to slow down long enough to notice.

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This West Virginia Swimming Lake Has Water So Crystal Clear You Can See the Sandy Bottom

Every summer, folks all across West Virginia go looking for that one swimming spot where the water feels cleaner and cooler than anywhere else. Tucked into a quiet corner of the...

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