A mountain marvel: Huntington, W.Va.

HUNTINGTON, W.VA., is the core of the Mountain State’s largest metropolitan area, and some of its attractions — the state’s largest fine arts museum, a resident symphony, Marshall University’s jazz center, an exotic plant conservatory, and a city park with a free kiddie zipline — are decidedly urban.

But this city half the size of Roanoke is also complemented by nearby wild areas and distinctive small towns. One of the nation’s oldest amusement parks, an art-glass plant, an Indian mound, a lake, a state park and the re-created pioneer village where scenes in the 2012 “Hatfields & McCoys” miniseries were shot are all minutes from downtown. It is this combination of history, culture and quirkiness that make Huntington worth the four-hour drive from Roanoke.

The Heritage Farm Museum and Village, tucked into a hollow only 10 minutes from downtown, bares the soul of Huntington, perhaps more than any other attraction. The site is the 40-year love project of Mike Perry, former lawyer and bank CEO, and his wife, Henriella, who started with a burned-out log cabin and grew the abandoned farm into five family cabins, a farm zoo and six separate museums (Progress, Transportation, Industry, Country Store, Children’s Activity Museum and Heritage). Stop by the old log church, visit the village smithy shop, drop by a one-room schoolhouse and shop a general store, then head over to the kitchen-through-the-ages exhibit to see how lucky we are now. The village’s 21 reconstructed log buildings house educational experiences for visitors of any age.

“Once you came over the hills, if you wanted something, you had to make it,” Mike Perry says. “Our ancestors were amazingly ingenious.” He points to an early juicer, carved from wood. His mission is to show that being a “hillbilly” is no reason for shame.

“We’ve embarked in this effort to help folks become reacquainted with these intelligent, resourceful mountain people whose story has never really been told.”

The award-winning museum saw a recent uptick in visitors because of the Hatfields and McCoys drama on the History Channel, which shot a dozen scenes of the famous feud on the farm. Another History Channel show, “American Pickers,” was set at Heritage Farm in 2011. The Perrys are pleased with the publicity but firm in their decision to leave television out of their rental cabins so families can experience a little of what life was like 150 years ago. Heritage Farm Museum is open March through November, Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The restored log homes rent for $175 to $225 a night year round. (www.heritagefarmmuseum.com; 304-522-1244).

Bauhaus to Boone

Set high on a wooded hilltop, the Huntington Museum of Art, designed by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, represents another aspect of Huntington. Here, at the state’s largest fine arts museum, you’ll discover room after room of 18th-century European and American paintings, contemporary graphics, Georgian silver, Oriental prayer rugs, 1,000-year-old Near Eastern pottery, Appalachian folk art and 4,000 pieces of historical and contemporary glass. The Herman Dean Firearms Collection includes 18th-century powder horns inscribed with maps, breech-loading rifles and a Kentucky flintlock with “Dan’l Boone” and “Kantuckee” carved on the buttstock.

The Huntington Museum of Art’s conservatory features tropical plants, fragrant, unusual, agriculturally important and beautiful. The orchid collection is stupendous, containing 400 varieties. The conservatory also harbors food plants North Americans seldom see: cocoa beans, papayas and a coffee tree. Orange jessamine and white ginger give the conservatory a perfumery air. The conservatory takes a green approach to plant care: Predatory insects, frogs, toads, geckos and mites help to control plant pests such as white flies and aphids.

Admission is free to everyone on Tuesdays, $5 per person otherwise. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday. (304-529-2701;
www.hmoa.org)

Just down the hill at the city’s Ritter Park, it’s almost mandatory to stop and smell the roses. Ritter’s acclaimed rose garden contains almost 2,000 bushes. Its playground features stone columns, arches and tunnels to climb in, a small zipline, cord bridge and hammock. Ritter has been named one of the 10 best public playgrounds in the nation by several parenting magazines.

Hot Dog Festival

Nestled against the Ohio River, this historic riverside city achieved notoriety in 2008 when The Associated Press named it “America’s fattest city,” citing its unmatched rates of obesity and heart disease. British chef Jamie Oliver gave it a starring role in his ABC diet makeover show and created the nonprofit Huntington Kitchen downtown to educate people about healthful cooking.

Despite its reputation, Huntington hosts 5k races most weekends, sells fresh produce at several farmers markets, including the cooperative indoor Wild Ramp at Heritage Station, and has numerous walking trails, including one leading to the free Huntington Railroad Museum, open summer Sundays at Memorial Park.

Huntington is, however, still known for its hot dogs, especially Hillbilly Hotdogs, where you might find yourself dining in an old school bus. On the last Saturday in July, Huntington celebrates its West Virginia Hot Dog Festival, amassing 12 top vendors downtown to raise money for children’s cancer treatment. Festivities include music contests and opportunities to sample hot dogs, as well as the annual Bun Run 5k and Buns on Bikes bicycle tour.

Other nearby attractions include the Museum of Radio and Technology, an electronic geek’s heaven, where visitors can try the working crystal radio set, look over a 5,000-watt AM radio transmitter, and view the West Virginia Radio Hall of Fame featuring Don Knotts, Soupy Sales, Little Jimmy Dickens and others. The admission-free museum is open weekend afternoons (www.radiomuseum.org).

Beech Fork State Park (www.beechforksp.com), south of Milton, is one of West Virginia’s newest parks, which means its six vacation cottages have air conditioning and modern kitchens. The park offers boating, fishing, biking, camping and swimming in the pool. Swimming is prohibited in the Beech Fork Lake, and you won’t want to step foot in the water after seeing the groundhog-sized carp in a feeding frenzy at the marina. Purchase fish chow at the marina shop, but don’t join these big guys in the water.

Go before they’re gone

The Mountain State’s only remaining amusement park, the Camden, just west of Huntington, claims not one, but two vintage wooden roller coasters as well as authentic old bumper cars and a carousel that’s been spinning since the park opened in 1903. An Adena Indian mound juts up beside the Big Dipper roller coaster. Camden is open daily in summer except Mondays and Tuesdays. (866-8CAMDEN; www.camdenpark.com)

In nearby Milton, the Blenko glass factory still practices the art of glass blowing most Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; observers are welcome. Cajoling screaming-hot, molten glass into art is an intense dance for these glass crafters. They step lively — from the gatherer, winding a gob of fiery taffy on his punty rod; to the gaffer, who straightens stemware with a wooden paddle; and the swinger, twirling glowing glass to give it shape. They have created windows for New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Washington Cathedral as well as the Country Music Award trophies, but it’s a dying art.

Blenko is the last large art glass company left in a state where 500 glass plants once thrived.

Su Clauson-Wicker is the author of several books about West Virginia and will be giving advice about travel in the Mountain State and signing copies of her new book, “Scenic Routes & Byways West Virginia,” at the Christiansburg Barnes & Noble on Saturday, July 20, from noon to 2 p.m.

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