Canaan Valley is a large bathtub-shaped upland valley in northeastern Tucker County, West Virginia, USA. Within it are extensive wetlands and the headwaters of the Blackwater River which spills out of the valley at Blackwater Falls. It is a well-known and partially undeveloped scenic attraction and tourist draw. Since 1994, almost 70% of the Valley has become the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the nation's 500th National Wildlife Refuge, with Canaan Valley Resort State Park and Blackwater Falls State Park nearby.
View of the southern end of Canaan Valley from atop Harmon Knob.
David Hunter Strother's 1853 engraving "Night in the Canaan". No trace of the great primeval red spruce forest remains today.
View of the northern half of Canaan Valley from atop Harmon Knob.
The Blackwater River near Canaan Valley Resort State Park
Tucker County, West Virginia
Tucker County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,762, making it West Virginia's fourth-least populous county. Its county seat is Parsons. The county was created in 1856 from a part of Randolph County, then part of Virginia. In 1871, a small part of Barbour County, was transferred to Tucker County. The county was named after Henry St. George Tucker, Sr., a judge and Congressman from Williamsburg, Virginia.
Image: Tucker County Courthouse 2021a
Image: Blackwater 2
Image: 20180712 FS Monongahela KMB 232 (48014894612)
Image: Canaan Valley 2
