One of my favorite parks in West Virginia, but they could do a little better at keeping their bathrooms clean and make sure the soap and hand sanitizer is always full. I've been here a lot over the years to ride the rail trail from here to Morgantown and back and it's beautiful. I've did the tours and they are great and very insightful. It has beautiful grounds in general plus a nice gift shop. I really enjoy riding the rail trail towards Fairmont too even though it's short it's paved and the tunnel is nice and cool on a warm day. It's a great place with tons of history. Check it out and make sure to bring your bike to enjoy the rail trail and a cooler to have a nice picnic. Enjoy :D read more

Prickett's Fort State Park - Parks Near Me - Fairmont, West Virginia

On the way back from Morgantown yesterday Tony and I decided to stop at pricket's fort State Park in Fairmont we had never been here before this was going to be a nice little afternoon adventure. The weather was lovely it was a very mild low 80° sun was Shining, flowers blooming , bees a buzzing....feels like summer finally! You found the park rather easily even though they don't have a lot of signage once you get off the interstate. The park is free to enjoy and walk around there's a couple of hiking trails and a very old cemetery. There is a really nice bathroom area near the museum and the museum is free to enjoy. There is also a gift shop. Now if you want to tour the actual fort which is a reconstructive for it which also includes the family job pricket brick house or Mansion whatever you want to call it there's a fee of $8. And seniors are six I believe. They also offer bike rental which I found to be very nice even though we were not riding bikes this day. The fort is a self-guided tour and they have people in costume to talk to show you around and answer any questions you may have. But they do not currently have a blacksmith. The job house is scheduled with a scheduled tour three times a day 11, 1 and 2:30. Since we missed the tour for the house we decided not to purchase the ticket for the fort, because the fee covers both. So our plans are to go back soon and plan our day so that way we can enjoy both the fort and the house. The staff that is working there is very friendly and will answer any questions you may have. The museum has quite a few artifacts in it and a 20 minute film talking about the fort, how it was used, and how it was very important to the frontier home life in that area at the time. I definitely highly recommend you going if you're in the area. I know Tony and I are definitely going back again. There's a lot of great things to see there, a lot of family historical information for the area, and some really neat things in the gift shop. Hope you go and hope you enjoy your day at the fort and the park. read more

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Smaller park, great place to learn a bit of history , and enjoy the fort and tour of the Prickeet home. Judy, took us around in the fort, and tour of the house. She was very knowledgeable and appreciated showcasing how life was back in the day. read more

Prickett's Fort State Park - Parks Near Me - Fairmont, West Virginia

I recently moved and very close to Pricketts Fort State Park! My dog and I love to wander around the fort.. it makes me think of how it must have been before electricity, air conditioning, running water, etc. I enjoy watching the blacksmith work making simple nails that take great craftsmanship! I really love when there is an event and everyone is dressed in period costumes, explaining how life was. I always wander into the 'store' where they sell goods they make at the fort including weaving and blacksmith items, they also have leather and glasswork from local artisians. I highly recommend you stop by for a visit. read more

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Dog friendly-check, well informed staff - check, nice fort recreation and a tour of the old house - check Take a walk towards the bridge on the river for a nice view of train bridge read more

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Great historical park in Fairmont WV. Well maintained and the staff is super informative. Also very close to the rail trail for biking or walking. read more

Take a tour of the fort & other buildings on the grounds, visit the gift shop, take a bike ride on the rail trail, definitely visit the Blacksmith Shop (my grandson's favorite) or drop a line in the bay or Monongahela River for a wide variety of fish species. Greg Bray the executive director is also a very accomplished blacksmith who had a huge hand in the blacksmith shop before becoming the director. On Friday nights during the summer concert series come enjoy musical entertainment at the adjacent amphitheater. Wonderful source for the history of the settlement of the region. I would highly recommend a trip to the fort when visiting the area read more

The tours are interesting. There is a lot to see inside the homemade fortress. It's pretty neat overall. The employees giving the tour - either having a bad day or not happy to be there, not quite sure. The older woman discussing how to make fabric was passive aggressive to a woman asking genuine questions. Made everyone uncomfortable. Then there was a random kitten having fun and playing inside the walls of the fort. It attacked my leg playfully and I reached down and picked it up to pet it as I understood it was young and excited. It was purring and just as I went to put it down, a younger employee screamed at me from 20 feet away to not pick up the kitten and how they didn't want to be held accountable if the kitten hurt me. I can understand from a legal perspective why they don't want you touching animals, but her approach was unprofessional and furthermore they shouldn't house a kitten, allow it to freely run around and then become angry when a customer holds it. Don't have the animal there or put up a sign saying such. read more

Nice boat launch and rail trail access with fishing spots as well. Plenty of parking nice area to ride a bike, and the overall fort is really cool especially for the historian read more

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Cute little park with some historic buildings, beautiful scenery, and access to a rail trail that takes you north to Morgantown, if you're up for it. read more

Nice little park along the Mon River. Old wooden fort. Access to rail trail that goes from Fairmont to Morgantown. Just writing this I can smell the summer in the air and feel humidity in the air right before a summer storm. Something about being out in the country.... good times. read more

This was one of my favorite places to go for a quiet afternoon, when I still lived in Morgantown. There are ducks swimming down the river at any given time, and lots of places to park. It's nice to just walk around and for as close as it is to the highway, it is quiet and serene. A definate great place to take a picnic basket, blanket and a book, and just enjoy a day. read more

A great place to learn a little REAL history. The park employees take pleasure in their work and are extremely knowledgeable about this time period in history. They are quite willing, and more importantly, prepared, to answer almost any question you'd have, these people have done their homework. We were there on a cold and rainy day, and hardly anyone was visiting the park. The park staff was so friendly, and did not rush us through anything. This is certainly a little gem to go visit if you're ever in this area. read more

I think by not telling my 10 year old son where we were going I oversold it. There really isn't too much going on here. It is a relatively small area. read more

I love this park the trail is wonderful, the view is amazing they have so many unique ducks I've never seen all black ducks before and very animal friendly I love taking my dogs here! read more

I love this place. If you want you can go through the fort and listen to the staff talk to you about the time period. The employees are ones who take time and pleasure in their work. They were even willing to stop and take pics with my daughter. The trails are amazing too. The short little trail lead to a quaint little graveyard. It is neat looking at the dates on some of the stones. Be pre pared to spend time, the afternoon even. read more

Do NOT pay to go check out the fort. After seeing the signs from the interstate for months we finally tracked it down. When we first pulled up to the visitor center we were excited to see the beautiful setting and the 'cast' in period costumes. It was nothing but a store to sell whatever promotional items they can pawn on you and sell tickets. The workers inside were whispering to each other that as soon as 'we the customers' left, they'd go somewhere else, I'm not sure where as they were whispering and making us feel unwanted. We promptly paid our money and were anxious to show our 3 year old grandson the fort. We were told to go to the 'house' behind the visitor center now or it would be locked up for the next 2 hours until the next tour... so what were we? We were met with a female cast member finishing up a tour with a room of people - so we went into the other end of the house to not disrupt the previous tour. Afterwards the cast member asked if we had questions yet she didn't give us any information. That ended quickly so we wondered off to the fort, we were still excited. We went into the fort and were met with a very crabby lady in costume fixing a loom with thread. She very quietly started reprimanding me to make sure my grandson knew that everything was real and if something looked sharp, it is sharp, and if it looks like food cooking, it is food cooking and best of all, the animals we see are not animatronics but are real and we shouldn't touch the goats or even the kitten because the kitten is in training... I stood there dumbfounded after spending money to go in and check out this fort and hear the stories about it - it was NEVER a military fort but a family farm - that's all we learned for our $16... not to mention I was made to feel like an intruder the whole time... Luckily my husband is very hard of hearing, so he didn't have to hear the crabbiness of the staff member telling me that we need to be respectful of the history of the fort. We tried to continue to walk around and look at artifacts being careful not to touch any of them. We were confronted by tons of large, black bees, piles of animal poop, but no tour and other staff. We truly couldn't leave the fort premises fast enough. I will say they have decent bathrooms - so that's worth a star. I was so disappointed that there was no tour and not even a pamphlet to learn more about the fort. Save your money and go to a real fort with a tour. And for those 'apparent' cast members in costume - I've no idea where they ran off, but they disappeared. read more