Experience the best of Fayetteville

Fayetteville stands in the mountains of southern West Virginia beside the New River Gorge, a deep wooded canyon cut by the New River. The New River Gorge Bridge, a steel arch of 1977 that carries the highway 267 metres above the water, is the landmark of the area, and each October a day is set aside when it is closed to traffic and BASE jumpers leap from the span.

The gorge and its cliffs and forests form the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. Rafters run the New River's rapids and the Gauley River's steeper water, climbers work the sandstone cliffs, and the former railroad town of Thurmond, almost deserted now, stands on the river bank. Hawks Nest State Park and Sandstone Falls are within a drive.

The pepperoni roll, a soft bread roll baked around pepperoni, is the West Virginia snack, and Appalachian dishes such as cornbread, soup beans and ramps, the wild leeks of spring, fill the local tables. Autumn is when the Gauley runs best, thanks to scheduled dam releases, and the hardwood forests of the gorge colour in October.