Qualla: Davis

Davis: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At 3,520 feet, Davis is the highest incorporated town in West Virginia. The population is 595, which makes it the kind of place where the same waiter who took your order at lunch may be skiing the lift line behind you the next morning. The Eastern Continental Divide zigzags across this region along a series of shallow ridges, forming the border between Tucker and Grant Counties - rain falling on Davis can end up in the Mississippi or in Chesapeake Bay, depending on a few feet of land elevation. The town is small. The location is everything. Within fifteen minutes of Davis are two state parks, two ski resorts, a national wildlife refuge, one of the most photographed waterfalls in the eastern United States, and the head of an eight-mile gorge.

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Davis: A Town and What Surrounds It

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Davis sits at the intersection of WV Route 32 and WV Route 93 in Tucker County, with Canaan Valley to the south and Blackwater Canyon dropping east toward Hendricks. Until the early 2010s, getting here required slow driving on twisty mountain roads. Then U.S. Route 48 - the long-...

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Davis: Skiing Capital of the South

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Davis exists, in significant part, because of the snow. The Canaan Valley side of Cabin Mountain holds snow into April most years, and that fact - first noticed by pilots in the 1940s and 1950s - turned the area into the cradle of southern American skiing. Canaan Valley Resort St...

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Davis: What to Do When the Snow Melts

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Spring, summer, and fall pull a different crowd. Blackwater Falls drops 57 feet just outside town, dark with tannin and crowded with photographers. The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge protects one of the largest inland wetlands in the eastern United States, with viewing pl...

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Davis: Restaurants in a Small Town

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Davis carries an unusual restaurant scene for a town of 595. The combination of ski tourism, the influx of outdoor-recreation visitors year-round, and the proximity to Thomas - a neighboring town with its own arts and food culture - has produced more good places to eat than a com...

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Davis: Connecting and Coping

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Davis sits inside the National Radio Quiet Zone, the federal restriction zone that protects the Green Bank Observatory's radio astronomy. Cell phone coverage is patchy. Radio stations are limited mostly to the Allegheny Mountain Radio network. Most lodging offers WiFi, but if you...

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