Monday at noontime I swung around the traffic circle in Princeton to get a look at the Mercer…read moreCounty Courthouse, a 1931 Classical Revival building designed by Alex B Mahood, the Bluefield architect responsible for a number of prominent southern West Virginia civic structures. Mercer County is named for Hugh Mercer, the Revolutionary War general, and Princeton has been the county seat since its founding, rebuilt after being burned twice during the Civil War. The courthouse was busy with busy with people coming and going, so I stayed outside and took in the building from the circle, getting honked at only twice while I tried to make sense of the traffic pattern. Driving slowly helps. The grounds were active, the building is clearly well kept, and even without going inside, it's easy to appreciate how this courthouse anchors the center of Princeton and remains one of the town's most recognizable landmarks. [Review 904 of 2026 - 216 in West Virginia - 26085 overall]

The parking here is extremely limited. There are a few spots on the street, but are limited to a…read moretwo hour maximum. If you have business to conduct at the courthouse be prepared to park off site and walk a short distance. The staff at the assessors office are professional and very helpful.

This marker is located on the traffic circle in front of the Mercer County Courthouse in downtown…read morePrinceton and points out some of the Civil War history that happened here. It has the same text on both sides. It reads, "Scene of several actions, May 1862, between Federal troops from General Cox's army and Confederate forces under Jenifer and Wharton. When the Confederates abandoned their camp here, the town was set on fire and partially burned." The marker was erected by the West Virginia Division of Culture & History. Princeton saw several days of back‑and‑forth skirmishing in 1862 because the town sat on a key route between the Kanawha Valley and the Virginia rail lines, so both Union and Confederate forces kept probing the area. The burning of the town left long‑term scars, forcing residents to rebuild almost entirely after the war and shaping the layout that developed in the decades that followed. There is very limited parking in the area, especially during the business day when the courthouse is open. [Review 905 of 2026 - 217 in West Virginia - 26086 overall]

This marker is on the grounds of the Mercer County Courthouse, where you will be very challenged to…read morefind parking during the week. It points out a local citizen who fought in the Revolutionary War and helped settle Princeton. It has the same text on both sides. It reads, "Richard Blankenship, Revolutionary War Soldier, was a member of Major James Robertson's company of New River Valley volunteers who fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774. He lived on a 33 acre farm 8 mi. southeast, at Ingleside, Mercer Co. and was recorded as an octogenarian in 1840 census. He was early settler, soldier and progenitor of many people in this area." the marker was erected in 1979 by the West Virginia Department of Culture and History. Richard Blankenship was born in Bedford County, Virginia around 1765 and came from a large frontier family whose descendants later spread throughout Mercer and Tazewell Counties. He married Rebecca Ann Dillon in 1786 and the couple raised an unusually large family, with seventeen children whose lines became deeply rooted in the Princeton area. By the early nineteenth century he was established in Mercer County, appearing in local records as a small‑acreage farmer tied to the Bluestone Valley community. His long life, early settlement, and extensive family network made him one of the foundational figures in the region's population history. [Review 906 of 2026 - 218 in West Virginia - 26087 overall]

This marker is on the corner of Lee Highway and the appropriately named Withers Road. It's easy…read moreenough to spot and read while you wait at the traffic light. Marker K-37 tells us about Robert Enoch Withers, "Robert Enoch Withers was born in Campbell County on 18 Sept. 1821. After graduation from the medical department at the University of Virginia in 1841, he practiced medicine in Campbell County and Danville until 1861. During the Civil War Withers achieved the rank of colonel in the Confederate army. He served as the lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1874 to 1875 and in the United States Senate from 1875 to 1881. Withers was the U.S. Consul at Hong Kong from 1885 to 1889 and he died nearby at his home, Ingleside, on 21 Sept. 1907." It was erected by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in 2002. Withers became one of Virginia's most prominent postwar Conservative Party organizers, using his newspaper to rally opposition to Radical Reconstruction. He was also a leading national figure in Freemasonry, ultimately heading the Knights Templar in the United States. His wartime injuries at Gaines' Mill were so severe that doctors doubted he would survive, yet he recovered enough to resume mounted duty within months. Federal officials later noted his unusually humane treatment of Union prisoners in Danville, a reputation that helped shield him from postwar reprisals. Late in life, he wrote "Memoirs of an Octogenarian," offering a reflective, often opinionated account of nineteenth-century Virginia politics and society. [Review 895 of 2026 - 1546 in Virginia - 26076 overall]

The more northern of the two tunnels on I-77 between Charlotte and Cleveland (yeah, the highway…read morestarts in Columbia and it has several other cities along the way but I'm uncaring about those facts), the East River Mountain Tunnel goes under the border of West Virginia and Virginia. At 5,412 feel long, it joins the cities of Bluefield WV and Rocky Gap VA. It took five years to build and was completed in 1974. It has saved travelers the difficult journey of going up and down the mountain on US-52. If you're headed northbound, exit one is immediately after the end of the tunnel. If your eyes take more than a moment to adjust from darkness to light, you may have some trouble. There is no toll to use the tunnel. [Review 20387 overall - 1446 in Virginia - 1365 of 2023.]

A tunnel that runs literally through East River Mountain, instead of a road and us literally…read moredriving up the mountain. Since the elevation for the mountain is more than 3,000 feet, the logical solution was a tunnel through both mountains, so they built this tunnel for us to drive through the mountain. There are actually two of these similar tunnels along I77, but this particular tunnel starts in Virginia and ends in West Virginia, or vice versa. The state line falls almost exactly across the midpoint of the tunnel, with 51% of the tunnel residing in West Virginia and the remaining 49% on the Virginia side. Because of that, both states antied up the 40 million for the project, that started in 1969 and completed in 1974.

It's one of those tunnels that feels way bigger and longer once you're actually driving through it…read more You enter this huge opening cut into the mountain, and then suddenly you're surrounded by concrete and darkness with the lights stretching out ahead of you. It's about a mile long, so you're in there long enough for it to feel like you're actually going through the mountain rather than just passing under it. And when you come out the other side, the daylight and mountain scenery hit you all at once. It's a pretty cool experience if you've never been through a mountain tunnel before. This trip we went through it at night time so we couldnt see any of the gorgeous scenery, this time through. But it is definitely a must see!

The Big Walker Mountain Tunnel is on Interstate 77 in Bland County, Virginia. It is a LONG tunnel…read morethrough the Appalachian Mountians. This two lane, fast moving, tunnel is 4,229 feet long or 1.289 miles long. Driving through it the length was noticeable and that is why I snapped a photo of the light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't until I went to write this review that I thought what would happen if there was an accident inside the tunnel. I'm not claustrophobic but in reading of the number of closures because of massive pileups mid-tunnel I'm going to have to put the possibilities of accidents out of my mind before we travel through this tunnel next year. Overall for a tunnel that was built in 1972 it appears in good shape. I know we will continue to travel through this tunnel annually as the alternate route is far worse. Three stars for being a good route from North Carolina to Kentucky. I can't help but deduct a couple of stars for the tunnel being two lanes and in possible need of extended closure if an accident occurs.

Near the entrance to the Interstate and adjacent to a gas station, this marker points out some…read moreColonial history. I'm not sure why it's on the south entrance when it belongs on the north entrance but whatever. The marker reads, "One mile north is a plantation that was surveyed in March, 1748, and patented, in June, 1753, by Colonel John Buchanan and named by him "Anchor and Hope." There in 1792 an academy was established to teach oratory. The pioneer educator, Thomas E. Birch, was instructor and minister for the settlement." John Buchanan's Anchor and Hope Plantation was left to his sons, James and William, at the time of his death. It is marker K-36 and was erected by the Conservation & Development Commission in 1932. [Review 19578 overall - 1416 in Virginia - 549 of 2023.]

In Princeton West Virginia Where I Live At The Mercer County Courthouse Located In Mercer County…read moreWest Virginia Is Where We Do All Of Our Official Business Okay Yelp I Love How Fast We Can Get Things Done Like Paying Taxes Getting Help From The Mercer County Sheriffs Office And Getting Even More I Rate This Because It Is What I Most Care For In My Life So Thank You Kindly From Robert Byrd Until Later Peace-Out.