Charleston West Virginia State Capital and Downtown

This is the FINAL POST of a travel series to West Virginia.  To start at the beginning, go HERE!

On the last day of our road trip in West Virginia, we started the morning in Babcock State Park, then drove to Hawk's Nest and saw incredible views, hit a couple of roadside waterfalls, and concluded our day in the state's capital for the night:  Charleston.

We have driven past Charleston's State Capital many times in our lives on the way someplace else out east.  It seems you can't get anywhere east without driving through Charleston.  We always admired its golden dome and thought it was time we check out the inside!  Interesting fact:  The capital's 292 foot gold-leafed dome is slightly taller than the US capital.

It's a massive, beautiful building, yes, that's me standing at the top of the steps to give you some perspective.

You can walk right in the state capital and do either a guided tour or a self tour;  we chose the self tour.

Since we were so impressed with the dome from the outside, we really wanted to see what it looked like from the inside and we were not disappointed.

In addition to the beautiful curved architecture there were eight gorgeous murals painted, four of which were just finished in 2024.  The murals closest to the center are the originals, they represent Justice, Commerce, Education, and Liberty.  The other four murals above the third floor balcony show scenes of West Virginia...two of which we have been to on our West Virginia road trip:  Seneca Rocks and Harper's Ferry.

This is the Harper's Ferry mural.

And here is Seneca Rocks.

We also stopped in and visited the Governor's Reception Room.

I recognized this guy right away!  This space is reserved in this room for portraits of immediate past governors. 

Next, we headed to see the rooms where all the government's business was conducted:  the house and the senate! 

First we had to walk through this amazing corridor which had the most incredible ceiling and the walls were lined with upright lamps.

After touring the Capital we headed downtown and we stopped at the Charleston Town Center where I found this great mural.  At 3,000 square feet the mall is one of the largest downtown malls in the US, but sadly is only 25% occupied.  It was one of the saddest things I ever saw, because it was so big and beautiful but there weren't any stores open!  We did grab some lunch at the food court though; and the employees seemed desperate for our business.  I don't know what happened, but I read that the city is currently in talks to acquire and redevelop the property.

After lunch, we headed over to the Haddad Riverfront Park.

Even though it was a weekday, the city was surprisingly quiet.

The riverfront special annual events and concerts and seats up to 2500 people!

There is a beautiful 4.5 paved trail that runs along the river and has great views of the Capital.  I'd love to bike this someday.

After visiting the park, we headed back to the parking garage.  I took some photos of what I thought were the most interesting buildings and city streets.

Since writing this post I discovered there were two more interesting downtown Charleston spots we could have visited:  Capital Street and Capital Market.  We didn't plan on visiting downtown Charleston, it was just an impromptu stop since we had extra time before we had to check in to our hotel, so I didn't do my research ahead of time.  Oh well, like I said earlier in the post, we always have to drive through Charleston to get anywhere out east so we will those two places another time.

I hope you enjoyed my West Virginia road trip series and that you will consider spending more time there yourself someday.  It really is a special state, perhaps that's why it inspired such a great song as "Take Me Home, Country Roads".

Next week, I will start sharing some little travel posts we made when the grandchildren were visiting, until then;

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

For more posts from this travel series check these out:

Harpers Ferry West Virginia

Hiking the Maryland Heights Trail at Harpers Ferry

Old Town Winchester

Blackwater Falls State Park West Virginia

Seneca Rocks West Virginia

Spruce Knob, West Virginia's Highest Point

The Beartown Boardwalk in Beartown State Park West Virginia

Lewisburg, West Virginia:  A Historic Town Filled with Loads of Charm

Lost World Caverns, Lewisburg West Virginia

Babcock State Park, West Virginia

Hawk's Nest and Waterfalls of West Virginia