The state park covers 2,358 acres in Tucker County, about two miles southwest of Davis. The Blackwater River reaches the park after a leisurely course through Canaan Valley to the south. The falls themselves are split by a rocky prominence near the center, which gives the cascade its instantly recognizable shape - two streams plunging into one basin, with the central rock dividing them. A broad trail descends about 320 feet from the parking lot to a wooden walkway and overlook on the west side. A steeper trail continues beyond the basin. On the east side, the longer 'Gentle Trail' brings visitors to a higher viewpoint. Beyond the falls, the river enters Blackwater Canyon, dropping another 1,250 feet over the next eight miles.

The park's other cascades are scattered through the forest. Elakala Falls on Shay Run drops 40 feet through a notch in the rock, with mossy boulders below that make it a favorite of long-exposure photographers. Pendleton Falls on Pendleton Run drops 20 feet, with smaller cascades above and below adding up to a longer descent. Falls Run features a 30-foot multi-ledge drop. Each can be reached by short trails from the main road. The Lindy Point overlook, accessible by a nature trail near the park lodge, gives the canonical view south into Blackwater Canyon. Pendleton Lake holds trout and bass. The various overlooks give visitors a sense of the larger gorge that the falls open onto - one of the deepest in the eastern United States.

The early written record of the falls is curious. Travel writer Philip Pendleton Kennedy described the Blackwater Canyon for a national readership in 1853 but somehow managed to miss the falls themselves. His cousin and traveling companion, the illustrator David Hunter Strother, published 'The Virginia Canaan' the same year and put the falls into print for the first time. Strother followed up with a longer account titled 'The Mountains' describing his June 1852 visit. Both writers' work helped make the falls a destination for nineteenth-century travelers. There is an oral tradition that the early Potomac and Youghiogheny hunter-explorer Meshach Browning (1781 to 1859) had observed the falls before any white American left a record, but there is no documentary evidence. The Dobbin House was built near the falls in 1858 and served as a popular lodge through the 1860s and 1870s.

The West Virginia Power and Transmission Company, later Allegheny Power Systems, owned much of Blackwater Canyon in the early twentieth century. Beginning in the 1930s, a series of leases and donations to the state from the power company allowed the West Virginia State Forest and Park Commission to begin protecting the falls and surrounding land for public access. The first such transfer in 1934 created a 446-acre scenic overlook at the head of the canyon, including the falls themselves. Blackwater Falls State Park was formally established in 1937. The park grew slowly through subsequent transfers. In January 2002, Governor Bob Wise bought an additional 500 acres along the river upstream of the falls from Allegheny Power and added them to the park. At least four deaths have occurred at the falls over the years - including a local man accidentally swept over them in a 1933 flood. The park reminds visitors that beautiful is not the same as safe.

Today the park supports year-round visitors. The lodge has 51 guest rooms. Thirty-nine cabins are scattered through the woods, thirteen of them modernized. The campground holds 65 sites, 30 with electrical hookups. A restaurant operates seasonally. The nature center, open from Memorial Day through Labor Day, exhibits the park's natural history. Trails support hiking, mountain biking, and - because Tucker County sits high enough to hold reliable snow - cross-country skiing in winter, with rentals available at the park. Fishing on Pendleton Lake and in the Blackwater River draws anglers all season. West Virginia University's 2005 accessibility assessment found the lodge generally accessible with some specific issues around telephone volume control, doorknob height, and ramp slopes. The falls themselves, with their steep stairs and snow-prone overlooks, present their own challenges.