Qualla: Blackwater Falls State Park

Blackwater Falls State Park: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bernini123, CC0. The water at Blackwater Falls really is black - or close enough that the name has stuck for nearly two centuries. The color comes from tannin leached out of the spruce and hemlock root systems and decaying hardwood leaves upstream in Canaan Valley. The river runs through bogs and acidic peat as it meanders across the high valley, picking up dissolved organic compounds the way tea picks up flavor. By the time the Blackwater River reaches the head of its canyon and drops 62 feet over the falls, the water is dark amber - the color of strong tea, with a tea-colored froth at the base. In winter, the falls often ice over completely, turning into a sculpture of cold brown glass. It is the most photographed waterfall in West Virginia, and the centerpiece of one of its busiest state parks.

Image: Bernini123 | CC0

Blackwater Falls State Park: Where the Canyon Begins

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bernini123, CC0. 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...

Image: Bernini123 | CC0

Blackwater Falls State Park: Smaller Falls Along the Tributaries

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Forest Wander from Cross Lanes, CC BY-SA 2.0. 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...

Image: Forest Wander from Cross Lanes | CC BY-SA 2.0

Blackwater Falls State Park: Strother, Kennedy, and the Lost Falls

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. 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, ...

Image: Public domain

Blackwater Falls State Park: From Power Company to Park

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bohemian Baltimore, CC BY-SA 4.0. 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...

Image: Bohemian Baltimore | CC BY-SA 4.0

Blackwater Falls State Park: Lodge, Cabins, and Cross-Country Skis

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Valerius Tygart, CC BY-SA 4.0. 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 Me...

Image: Valerius Tygart | CC BY-SA 4.0