Places Mama Shotts Wants to Go

Built in the 1850s, this church was of the first five churches constructed in Harper's Ferry.

This shale formation along the Appalachian Trail once inspired the third president of the United States.

A beautiful hidden gem in central West Virginia.

Spectacular mineral formations fill these caves, which have been used for everything from smoking meat to stashing illicit liquor.

The site of the one and only battle of Lord Dunmore's War.

This former fire tower is now a rustic observatory that offers amazing views of eagles, hawks, and the Appalachian Mountains.

A giant time capsule not scheduled to be cored until 2040.

This claimant to the title of "smallest church in the 48 states" doubles as an equally tiny, quasi-post office.

The isolated final resting place for perished coal miners.

A melancholy guardian doubles as a judicious godmother to this small town cemetery.

A well-preserved relic of the industrial age steel and iron works that dotted West Virginia.

A monument marks the location of the first successful steamboat demonstration.

The remains of one of the last mining camps developed on the New River.

The highest point in Maryland is only accessible by hiking through another state.

The brainchild of Eleanor Roosevelt, her "Little Village" was a collectivist dream.

This university transit system is a 1970s vision of the future.

A cult archaeology conspiracy theory claims these West Virginia petroglyphs were written by Irish monks in Ogham.

The last holdout of a pre-Civil War rebel who took the matter of slavery into his own hands.

This California artist's front yard acts as a gallery for his unique, scrap metal animal sculptures.

Home of a 28-foot tall stalagmite known as the War Club.

The largest burial mound in the United States holds the remains of prehistoric West Virginians.

Near-constant high winds deform the trees on Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia.

One of the few surviving examples of the first lock and dam system built on the Ohio River.

Berkeley Springs State Park boasts the nation's only monument commemorating presidential bathing.