Cacapon Resort State Park
Cacapon Mountain runs north/south and divides Morgan County into the heavily forested and mountainous western segment and the more populous and settled east. The mountain ends at Panorama Overlook in the north and includes the county’s highest elevation, 2320 feet, at the southern end near the Hampshire County line.
In 1933, the state of West Virginia created Cacapon State Park from 6000 acres of land on the eastern slope of Cacapon Mountain. Park boundaries extend along the top ridge more than 12 miles to Prospect Rock where George Washington and countless other 18th and 19th century visitors often rode on horseback. A fire road along this ridge provides a rare and ideal flat surface for hiking. The road begins at a spectacular overlook above the Batt Pavilion which provides a panoramic view of the entire Sleepy Creek Mountain to the east. During the summer, vehicles can drive to the overlook.
Trails were cleared and cabins built in the park by the Civilian Conservation Corps program. In the 1960s, an 18-hole, 72-par championship golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones and is rated one of the best public courses in the region. One of the most distinctive sights is the stone chimney on the putting green which is all that remains from the land’s original farmhouse. The Old Inn at Cacapon was the first overnight lodge in the West Virginia park system.
Click image for pdf of interpretive sign.
Today, the park is a favorite resort in the state system with a lodge, cabins, family restaurant, a lake with a sand beach available for fishing and boating as well as swimming. Miles of blazed trails along the mountain follow game trails that were trod by Native American and colonial hunters. A comprehensive naturalist program and horseback riding round out Cacapon State Park’s universe. (Insider tip — the word is pronounced Ca-cay-pun.)
Researched and written by Jeanne Mozier © 2000