My family and I spent a week hard by the lake's shores not long ago, in a nearly new, well-outfitted two-bedroom cottage. Stonewall Jackson Dam - named for the Lewis County boy who made good in the War Between the States - was put in operation in 1988.
In the 1980s the state government condemned the private property, bulldozed what was left after the people moved out and dammed the river. The floods in the valley, which had tormented the townsfolk as early as the 1820s, could not be controlled. You'll find sepia-toned photos from the 19th and 20th centuries showing simple frame houses and barns stern families posed in front of wooden porches a soldier home from war, saluting from under his visored hat.Ī larger color photo tells the rest of the story: an aerial view of the town taken about 25 years ago that shows the West Fork River's clay-brown waters washing across Roanoke's streets, yards and buildings. You'll see the 1950s-style logo of the Roanoke Rockets high school sports teams.
You can't see much of Roanoke anymore, though in certain parts of the lake the colorless limbs of trees that once shaded the town's streets poke up from the water's surface.īut if you go to the adjacent state park's main visitors building, you can learn plenty. West Virginia's Stonewall Jackson Lake features Stonewall Resort, an Adirondack-style retreat with 198 handsome rooms, spacious indoor and outdoor pools, five restaurants, an Arnold Palmer golf course, some of the best bass fishing in the state, a luxe spa, miles of trails ideal for autumn-leafing hikes, 10 stylish lakeside cottages and, at the very bottom of the lake, buried under 60 or more feet of clear mountain water, the remains of a small river town called Roanoke.
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