Hatfield and McCoy Trails to bring 600 acres of new off

May 29, 2023

ST. ALBANS, W.Va. — The establishment of a fresh set of off-road bike trails will soon get underway in Kanawha County, and it will be maintained and operated by the popular Hatfield McCoy Trails.

The Kanawha County Commission made the announcement Wednesday that they have partnered up with Hatfield and McCoy and the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation to create 600 acres of the new trail system at Meadowood Park in St. Albans.

“This is something that Kanawha County has been looking forward to for a very long time,” said Kanawha County Commissioner Lance Wheeler. “For years we have thought about the impact of bringing Hatfield and McCoy to Kanawha County and what that would do.”

The trail system would contain up to 36 miles of single-track dirt bike and electric bike space with much of it also being flat enough for regular bikes to ride on, as well.

The Hatfield and McCoy off-highway Trails make up over 1,000 miles of terrain throughout the mountains of Southern West Virginia, and Wheeler said they wanted Kanawha County to reap some of the benefits the Hatfield and McCoy trail system has brought to other areas.

“We’ve seen what Hatfield and McCoy has done with economic development in other areas of Southern West Virginia, we want to bring that here to Kanawha County, and so having this bike system with Hatfield and McCoy, it’s going to bring outside visitors,” said Wheeler.

According to Hatfield and McCoy Trails officials, the Kanawha County trail system will be the farthest north they have established a system on, along with it being their first e-bike trail system.

Wheeler said being the largest dirt bike and e-bike trail system east of the Mississippi, it will attract a lot of people.

“We’re going to get visitors from all across this country coming straight here just for Kanawha County, it’s going to be wonderful for St. Albans, it’s going to be wonderful for Charleston, it’s going to be wonderful for all of Kanawha County,” he said.

This particular system of trails will be a park system, meaning it won’t be connected to anywhere else and riders will start and end at the same location.

Wheeler said it just may be one of the largest, most unique recreational opportunities yet to come to the area.

“This is going to be the Disney World for dirt bike and e-bike trail systems, it’s going to be something that you won’t get to see anywhere else and it’s right here in West Virginia, it’s right here in Kanawha County,” Wheeler said.

He said the commission will vote to approve $150,000 for the project at the next meeting.

Construction on the trails are set for the next month or more and they are expected to open sometime next year.