Travel America: Discovering West Virginia: "almost heaven" describes this kingdom of mountains and r

WEST VIRGINIA IS A SURPRISE PACKAGE WRAPPED IN CULTURE, HISTORY and beauty. Open it up and you'll find it stuffed with r's--rafting, riding, resorts, and recreational parks. Underneath the r's are caves, cool mines, and even a huge bunker. The whole package is covered with green billowing hills. Hiking, camping, and copious wildlife are standard at all the state recreational parks, but each is unique. Twin Falls, in the southern part of the state, has an 1830s working pioneer farm, while Pipestem, at the nearby Bluestone Canyon rim, is on two levels with lodges and activities both above and 1,200 feet below.

Many consider Oglebay Park, a 1,650-acre spread just outside of Wheeling, the crown jewel of West Virginia's parks. It was the former home of industrialist/horticulturist Col. Earl Oglebay, so in summer there is a blaze of blossoms. In December holiday lights turn the park (run by the Wheeling Park Commission) into a fairyland of animated glitter. The rest of the time visitors busy themselves at Oglebay's planetarium, train, zoo, three golf courses, caddy camp, and Carriage House Glass Museum.

Another r activity is running southern West Virginia's Gauley and New River rapids, considered the best rafting east of the Mississippi. Every autumn waters are released from the Summersville Dam, turning the Gauley into an unparalleled thrill for whitewater enthusiasts.

In summer the scenic New River has the whitewater. The waterway, second in age only to the Nile, was the backdrop for the movie Deliverance. The New River Gorge Bridge, which spans 3,030 feet across the river and rises 876 feet above the water, was the venue for a creative Chevy advertisement in which a Blazer was hung by a bungee cord.

R also refers to riding at horse farms that take up much of southern West Virginia's rolling countryside. Swift Level, a 170-year-old farm near Lewisburg, is a luxurious B&B, and if you're lucky, owner Jimmy O'Flaherty might just take you fox hunting.

Resorts are one of West Virginia's premier r's. The Greenbrier, centered around a white-columned building accented by thousands of flowers, has been in White Sulphur Springs for 200 years. Because of its mineral springs, it was originally for the sickly coming to "take the cure." The ailing were replaced by Southern aristocrats, and today The Greenbrier is the playground of the privileged.

For over 30 years, The Greenbrier's grandeur was a cover-up for "Project Greek Island," the self-contained, secret, Congressional compound to be used in case of nuclear war. Built 100 feet below the hotel, it had power and water plants, an ammunition stockpile, 400 telephone lines, a detox area, and incinerators. The bunker was closed after the Washington Post exposed it in 1992.

The nearby Pence Springs Hotel once rivaled The Greenbrier and was considered West Virginia's most lavish and expensive mineral spring retreat ($6 a day with meals). Formal attire was required for "taking the waters" but during Prohibition guests came for bootleg liquor and gambling. Eleanor Roosevelt used it as a young woman's finishing school, and from 1946 to 1976, the lady residents were already finished--the property became a women's maximum-security prison.

The mother of the Pence Springs' present owner, Ashby Berkley, was a prison guard there. He tells tales of a 400-lb. inmate cook who used to sneak him peanut butter cookies. Berkley, an authority on wines as well as an accomplished chef, now makes sure his guests receive those cookies as part of the turndown service.

Blennerhassett Mansion, near Parkersburg, was never a prison or resort, but its history rivals The Greenbrier and Pence Springs. Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett fled England in 1794 and created a paradise on a 500-acre Ohio River island, They played host to such notables as Johnny Appleseed, Charles X of France, and Aaron Burr. Burr persuaded Harman to finance an ill-fated plan to invade Mexico. That proved to be Blennerhassett's ruination.

The c's of West Virginia include caves, coal, and culture. Lost World Cave, near Lewisburg, is a hodgepodge of formations ranging from hex blocks and pigtails to chandeliers and ice cream castles. Organ Cave, a Confederate Army headquarters that manufactured gunpowder, has 300- to 500-million-year-old fossils and coral.

But it is coal, the potent fuel that powered America's industrialization, for which West Virginia is perhaps best known. Miners worked on their hands and knees for 12 to 16 hours a day to retrieve it. Southern West Virginia's Coal Heritage Trail chronicles its bituminous history.

The Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine provides a glimpse into a miner's life. Coal camps, the huge company store in Itmann, a one-room bachelor house, and a four-room family home sharply contrast with the large superintendent's house. The palatial mansions of Bramwell, near the Bluestone River, were the enclaves of wealthy coal operators.

"They literally hauled their money down the street in a wheelbarrow from the steps of the bank to the train," says Bramwell resident Betty-Goins.

Coal as well as money was transported by rail. Massive railroad yards sprung up around Appalachia. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad once owned the entire town of Hinton. The Hinton Railroad Museum chronicles rail's glory days.

Culture abounds in the northern pan-handle city of Wheeling. The town of 35,000 even has its own symphony. The Capitol Music Hall, with its Paris Opera House look-alike interior, hosts concerts and Jamboree USA, a music show broadcast throughout the country.

Wheeling became the gateway to the west with the advent of a suspension bridge over the Ohio River. Pioneers piled up provisions at the 150-year-old Centre Market. By the turn of the century, Wheeling was the second wealthiest city in the country. Railroads and the manufacture of textiles, nails, glass, munitions, and tobacco generated a gracious lifestyle, reflected in its restored Victorian homes.

There's more culture along with colonial history in the eastern panhandle. Two-hundred-year-old, Roman-style baths and 72-degree mineral springs comprise the Berkeley Springs town square. In fact, George Washington soaked here. More recently, health spas, galleries, and even a homeopathic medicine factory have sprung up in Berkeley Springs, billed as "The Country's First Spa."

All of the area's small towns have a Revolutionary past. George's brother, Charles, didn't have a piece of the Charles Town Races and Casino, but he owned land there. Charles Town is the place where John Brown was tried and hanged for treason after his raid on nearby Harpers Ferry.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, offers exhibits, museums, and hiking trails that spotlight the Civil War, John Brown, early industry, and African-American history.

Contact: West Virginia Division of Tourism, (800) 225-5982; www.callwva.com.