Cedar Creek State Park lies in Gilmer County. Located in the center of West Virginia, this park joined the state park system in 1955. Cedar Creek’s 2,588 acres has a watershed that includes Sugar Camp Run, Big Two Run, and Little Two Run.
The park office and nature center is unique, a log cabin that formerly served as a home, then a gas station. Another attraction is the furnished one-room schoolhouse with a tin roof, where eight grades once studied together. Built in 1910, Pine Run School was moved to the park from neighboring Lewis County in 1989. Inside are a pot-bellied stove and a bucket of coal in the center of the room, 30 desks, a blackboard, a paddle, filled bookcases, a teacher’s desk, a water jug with one tin cup, and a memorial to one-room-school teachers. In front is a 30-foot flagpole, made from a black locust trunk.
Visitors to Cedar Creek enjoy miniature golf, a swimming pool, campground, playground, and 14 miles of hiking trails. Picnic sites, one near a stream rippling over flat rocks, are popular. Fishermen come to fish the park’s stocked ponds, and others come for tennis and game courts.
Written by Maureen F. Crockett