Old Route 7 Byway 7
Old Route 7 Byway is a State Scenic Byway in West Virginia. Within West Virginia it covers roughly 35 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Old Route 7 Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
West Virginia's Old Route 7 Byway runs 43 miles from the Maryland state line to Morgantown through north-central West Virginia. Along the way it passes Arthurdale, the first New Deal homestead community, founded in 1933 as a favored project of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. At Dunkard's Bottom on the Cheat River, the byway reaches the site of Preston County's first white settlement, dating to around 1754, then continues through Corinth, shaped by a long coal-mining history, past the former Hopemont State Hospital, to Terra Alta. Decker's Creek transforms along the route from a gentle stream into a rapid, tumbling torrent through a narrow limestone gorge lined with rhododendron and laurel thickets, feeding into the Cheat River, prized among whitewater rafters as the premier rafting river in northern West Virginia.
- Arthurdale New Deal homestead
- Dunkard's Bottom
- 43 miles
- Decker's Creek gorge
- Cheat River whitewater rafting
- Terra Alta
- 1754 settlement site
Plan a drive on Old Route 7 Byway →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Old Route 7 Byway
No campgrounds are listed close to Old Route 7 Byway yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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