Mountain peak in West Virginia
A scenic view of the
New River
Valley from
Lover's Leap
, in Hawk's Nest State Park,
Ansted, West Virginia
Location of Hawk's Nest
Hawk's Nest
, the site of
Hawks Nest State Park
, is a peak on
Gauley Mountain
in
Ansted, West Virginia
,
USA
. The cliffs at this point rise 585 ft (178 m) above the
New River
. Located on the
James River and Kanawha Turnpike
(the road that served as an extension of the canal across what is now West Virginia), many early travelers on this road stopped to see the view of the river below. In modern times, the
Midland Trail
carries
U.S. Route 60
through the same general route. Ample parking at the overlook in the state park provides tourists with free access to the views. English writer
Harriet Martineau
, who passed through the area in the 1830s, found the view at Hawk's Nest nearly as moving as
Niagara Falls
.
[1]
Martineau also reported the legend that
John Marshall
, as a surveyor in his youth, had been its first white discoverer.
[2]
The name Hawk's Nest derived from the many fish
hawks
which inhabited the massive cliffs at this point. When the railroad began blasting in the area between 1869 and 1873, the hawks left the site and never returned. The
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
was completed through the area on January 29, 1873, and a ceremony was held at Hawk's Nest Station.
A
hydro-electric
project nearby became known as the
Hawk's Nest Incident
. During the construction of a three-mile-long tunnel by
Union Carbide
beginning in 1927, the tunnel was filled with
silica
dust. Workers were not given masks for protection, even though management wore such masks during the short times they visited for inspection. As a result, thousands of workers, mostly poor and
African American
, died from
silicosis
, sometimes as quickly as within a single year.
In addition to the real-life tragedy of the Hawk's Nest Incident, an overlook in the state park called
Lovers' Leap
is the location of legendary stories of romantically inspired suicides by young lovers who cannot be together due to family and cultural obstacles.
Hawks Nest State Park offers a nature museum, a nine-hole
golf
course, a 31-room
lodge
,
jetboat
rides and
hiking
.
See also
[
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]
References
[
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External links
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38°07′01″N
81°06′54″W
/
38.116934°N 81.115108°W
/
38.116934; -81.115108