4. New River Gorge
Posted by Emilie Taylor on
Welcome back to my National Park series where we talk about my paintings and the parks! Remember the first 8 paintings I’m going over are from my original 50 state series from 2019. So what that means for this one is that it was not a national park yet when I painted it in early 2019. New River Gorge is the current newest national park in the US. It became an official National park on December 27th 2020. Which is both my sister and my youngest nephew’s birthday.
Before New River Gorge was a national park it was a river preserve which is how it caught my eye. The New River has a rare south to north flow and is believed to be very old. Now I don’t know how that stuff is measured but I found it interesting because why would an old river be named new? I found a few stories. One tale suggests that its name comes from a Native American translation meaning “new waters”. But the most common story seems to be that while exploring in 1764, Captain Byrd, was unable to find the river on the old map, so he named it the "New River"... And I guess it stuck?
As you can tell by now I’m learning all kinds of weird facts and each park has something a little different that pulls me in.
Something iconic to the park is The New River Gorge Bridge. Built in 1977 it’s still the United States' longest single-span steel arch bridge. And the States 3rd highest bridge, standing at 876 ft above the New River. It’s open to Pedestrians and BASE Jumpers on the Bridge Day celebration once a year. Where all kinds of extreme sports take place including jumping, rappelling a 700 ft zip line. Okay I’d be down for the zip line, just imagine the fall colors!
Another big draw to this park is the whitewater rafting. The Lower Gorge is renowned for colossal rapids only for advanced and expert paddlers. So not me. I’ll stick to my paddle board on the lakes.
This Park also has rich history throughout with towns like Thurmond that remain untouched by modern development. Preserved to tell the stories from the past. I even found some old photos on the NP website. Probably something I’ve gotta see with my own eyes before I give out history lessons... So until then. I hoped you enjoyed this post and like me found more reasons to go visit or go back to New River Gorge.
Comment below if you’ve been to the park and let me know what you enjoyed most! Badlands National Park next time!
Link to my New River Gorge Painting
