By state · WV

National Parks in West Virginia.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

West Virginia has more than five NPS units, anchored by New River Gorge National Park and Preserve (designated a National Park in 2020; the country's most recently elevated NP) and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (jointly with Maryland and Virginia). Other units include Bluestone National Scenic River, Gauley River National Recreation Area, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (multi-state corridor), and segments of the Lewis and Clark and Trail of Tears national trails. Charleston (CRW) anchors the central state; Beckley (BKW) is closer to New River Gorge; Washington Dulles (IAD) reaches Harpers Ferry. New River Gorge's headline visitor surface is the bridge plus the rafting season (May through October); Harpers Ferry operates year-round with peak summer crowds. The state's NPS network has shifted meaningfully since New River Gorge's 2020 elevation; visit infrastructure is still adapting to the new visitation level.

Use this pageShare or cite this guide
Add as a preferred source on Google

National Sites Guide

Share this page

Cite this page

Copy a citation

NPS source records in West Virginia.

West Virginia has 8 records in our combined NPS metadata and visitor-statistics registry: 2 National Historical Parks · 1 National Scenic Trail · 1 National Scenic River · 1 Other · 1 National Recreation Area · 1 National Historic Trail · 1 National Park & Preserve. This is a source-record count, not the Park Service's official system-unit census. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 13,169,954 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch, see methodology). The most-visited record is Appalachian National Scenic Trail at about 6.22M annual visits.

Every National Park Service site in West Virginia, mapped. Each glowing marker is one site, placed at its real coordinates and colored by type. Select a marker for its yearly visits and a link, or use the filters to show or hide a group. 5 of 8 units are mapped here; long-distance trails and units centered in another state are in the table below.
National Park Service sites in West Virginia, mapped Interactive map of West Virginia showing the location of 5 National Park Service sites, colored by type: national parks, monuments and memorials, historic sites, recreation areas and seashores, rivers, trails and parkways, and other sites. It includes the National Park New River Gorge National Park & Preserve. Each site is also listed with its yearly visits in the table below the map.

Marker positions are each unit's official NPS coordinates. State outline: U.S. Census cartographic boundary (public domain). Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Appalachian National Scenic Trail National Scenic TrailAPPA 6,215,118 July
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park National Historical ParkCHOH 4,552,595 September
New River Gorge National Park & Preserve National Park & PreserveNERI 1,750,769 July
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park National Historical ParkHAFE 434,030 October
Gauley River National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaGARI 201,004 September
Bluestone National Scenic River National Scenic RiverBLUE 16,438 July
Chesapeake Bay —CBPO — —
Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail National Historic TrailLECL — —

Methodology

Rows come from our combined NPS metadata and Visitor Use Statistics registry, not the Park Service's official census of 433 managed system units. Per-record visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; the "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state records are listed under every state they touch, and their full visit total appears in each state. Official National Park counts use the central 63-park classification rather than the source designation label alone. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Adjacent reading

Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-08-28