One Day Only: An Escape to Lewisburg

Things are chaotic in so many ways right now. I think everyone would probably benefit from some blood pressure medication (but don’t take my word for it, I’m not that kind of doctor). Despite the chaos, my husband and I found one day, one night where we could escape our marathon work sessions. I feel like COVID-19 and working from home has actually generated more work for me, not less. I digress. Let’s go to Lewisburg, West Virginia!

I can’t bear to take the same route both ways in just about every context (unless I’m in a huge hurry). So to get down to Lewisburg we made stops in Buckhannon and Pickens. Not exactly the direct route. Buckhannon is home to West Virginia Wesleyan College, which is a lovely liberal arts college, and the Donut Shop. Wesleyan’s campus is bucolic and picturesque, but there is nothing like gobbling up a pepperoni roll in its melted cheese and crumbled pepperoni glory and a dozen or so donuts for good measure from the largely nondescript place.

And the French toast donut was, in fact, absolutely delicious

Next we decided to make our way from U.S. Route 119 to U.S. Route 2019 by taking Helvetia-Adolph Road. This meant we not only went through Helvetia, but decided to take a detour to Pickens. I am mildly obsesses with Pickens because it is less connected to the world now than it was 75 years ago—at least then they had road and rail access. While the town is small, it did have a post office, which is exactly what I needed to make a special delivery to one of my students.

The drive down U.S. Route 219 from Mill Creek to Lewisburg is every sportscar driver’s dream—and I’ve done it in a Miata and a Corvette. It isn’t quite the Tail of the Dragon, but there are a lot of exhilarating and technical curves that make you realize you were right for buying that sportscar—and then you get stuck behind a 1990 Silverado struggling up the grades and taking the curves extra slow. This happens at the Tail of the Dragon, too.

Lewisburg is one of four Certified Arts Towns in West Virginia, the others are Elkins, Wheeling, and Berkeley Springs—all of which are very worthy towns to spend a weekend in. Lewisburg is home to boutique shops, galleries, and delicious restaurants—and one of West Virginia’s three medical schools, the West Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. There are artsy touches all over town, like this fire hydrant and a piano out in the open for anyone to play (I declined, I can’t say I have much musical talent).

Though my favorite place in Lewisburg is the General Lewis Inn. This boutique hotel offers not only incredible rooms, but an exquisite restaurant and real mixologists at the bar. On this stay we enjoyed the Garden Queen Room, which had a spacious seating area, perfect if traveling with friends or other couples for drinks, discussion, or even some card or board games.

Having a few hours before our dinner reservation, we strolled the main drag and poked our heads into the shops that were open. I scored an incredible western-themed sweater, a gift for one of my best friends, and an actual Canadian 1-dollar bill, these haven’t been in circulation since 1989. After some research on the internet, the bill may be worth a lot more than I paid for it. That is one of the benefits of shopping for regional products a long way from their “home”. I also picked up two old post cards from British Columbia that were mailed to West Virginia, complete with postmarks and personal notes on them. You never know what you might find!

It was a pleasant sight to see the General Lewis Inn after walking downtown

Neither of us could resist the promise of a perfectly cooked filet mignon in the Jefferson Dining Room and they did not disappoint, we followed our perfect steaks with a Louisiana Cadillac—a five-layer mousse cake, almond crisp, chocolate mousse, caramel, hazelnut streusel, and dark chocolate shards. I was so full it was almost painful to eat but my mouth enjoyed every single atom of that dessert.

After a long day, we turned in early. To return home to Morgantown we elected to follow U.S. Route 60 to Gauley Bridge, where we picked up W.V. Route 16 to Clay, where we took a right onto W.V. Route 4 (which follows the beautiful Elk River into Gassaway). By the time we made it to Sutton, however, we were ready for a high-speed burn up I-79.