Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park Explained

Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park
Iucn Category:	III
Iucn Ref:	^[1]
Map:	USA West Virginia
Relief:	1
Location:	Pocahontas, West Virginia, United States
Nearest Town:	Hillsboro, West Virginia
Coordinates:	38.1125°N -80.2719°W
Area Acre:	287
Elevation:	3104feet
Established:	July 4, 1928^[2]
Named For:	Battle of Droop Mountain
Governing Body:	West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Website:	Droop Mountain Battlefield Embed: yes Nearest City: Marlinton, West Virginia Coordinates: 38.11°N -80.2722°W Added: January 26, 1970 Refnum: 70000664

Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park is a state park located on Droop Mountain in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. The park was the site of the Battle of Droop Mountain, the last major battle of the American Civil War in the state taking place on November 6, 1863. John D. Sutton, a West Virginia private in the Union Army at the battle, became the leader in the movement to create the park when he served in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Dedicated on July 4, 1928, Droop Mountain Battlefield became the first state park in West Virginia.^[3]

The battlefield was transformed into a historical, outdoor recreation area by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. Public reenactments of the battle have been conducted in October of some even-numbered years by the West Virginia Reenactors Association.^[4]

The park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park is located about north of the Lewisburg exit of I-64 on U.S. Highway 219 and about south of Marlinton on US 219. The park is also near Beartown State Park and Watoga State Park.

Features

• Droop Mountain Museum with battle artifacts
• Lookout Tower
• hiking
• Picnic areas with shelters
• Tots playgrounds

See also

• American Civil War
• Battle of Droop Mountain
  • List of West Virginia state parks State park
• West Virginia in the American Civil War

Further reading

• Boge, Georgie and Margie Holder Boge. Paving Over the Past: A History and Guide to Civil War Battlefield Preservation. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1993.
• Cook, Roy B. “The Battle of Droop Mountain.” West Virginia Review. October 1928.
• Lowry, Terry. Last Sleep: The Battle of Droop Mountain. Charleston, WV: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1996.
• “Program - Dedication of the Droop Mountain Battlefield as a State Park.” The Pocahontas Times. June 28, 1928.
• Report of the Droop Mountain Battlefield Commission. Charleston, WV: Jarrett Printing Co., 1928.
• Shaffer, Dallas B. The Battle at Droop Mountain. Charleston, WV: Department of Natural Resources.
• Smith, Timothy B. Altogether Fitting and Proper: Civil War Battlefield Preservation in History, Memory, and Policy, 1861-2015. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2017.
• Snell, Mark A. West Virginia and the Civil War: Mountaineers Are Always Free. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2011.
• “State Park Dedicated - Big Crowd Celebrates the Fourth on Droop.” The Pocahontas Times. July 12, 1928.
• West Virginia State Park History Committee. Where People and Nature Meet: A History of the West Virginia State Parks. Charleston, WV: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1988.

External links

• • Droop Mountain Museum

Notes and References

1. Web site: Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. Protected Planet. IUCN. 30 April 2018.
2. Web site: Dedication of Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park . 2008-07-04 . West Virginia Division of Culture and History . https://web.archive.org/web/20080705232927/http://www.wvculture.org/HISTORY/parks/droopmountain05.html. 2008-07-05. dead.
3. Book: Where People and Nature Meet: A History of the West Virginia State Parks. Debra Patterson. Pictorial Histories Publishing Company. Charleston, West Virginia. April 1988. 0-933126-91-3. 89.
4. Web site: West Virginia Reenactors Association . West Virginia Reenactors Association website . 30 January 2021.