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Lost River State Park

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Various dates. Hardy County 12, 4 miles west of the intersection with WV 259 at Mathias

Lost River State Park, a wooded enclave of 3,712 acres dating from the 1930s, incorporates remnants of a much earlier resort. Richard Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee obtained the property in 1796 as part of a 17,000acre tract he received for services during the Revolution, but it was his son Charles Carter Lee who developed the area as a mountain spa by building cabins and a log boardinghouse. After the much-remodeled boardinghouse burned in 1910, the resort went into decline until the state legislature appropriated funds to establish a state park. In 1934, 200 Civilian Conservation Corps cadets were assigned to construct facilities, and by July 1, 1937, when the park opened, they had built fifteen log cabins, a superintendent's residence, and an administration building. A restaurant, a pool and bathhouse, and a reconstruction of the Lee Cabin followed. Nine additional cabins, of frame rather than log, were opened in 1956, and the original CCC cabins were repaired and remodeled in 1961.

Writing Credits

Author: 
S. Allen Chambers Jr.

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