Where to Go, What to Know

Writer Kathy Legg recently toured the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, W.Va. Here is her reporter's notebook.

DRIVE TIME

About 4 hours from the Beltway

COST

$30 for the asylum tour

GETTING THERE

From the Capital Beltway, take Interstate 270 north to I-70 west. Exit I-70 onto I-68 west. At Morgantown, W.Va., turn south on I-79 to Weston, Exit 99. Turn left on Route 33 west and follow it into town. The asylum is at Route 33 and River Avenue.

WHAT TO DO

Tour the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (71 Asylum Dr., Weston, 304-269-5070). Go to http://www.trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com for tour and ticket information. Call for reservations, and don't forget to bring a flashlight along with your nerve.

Visit the Jackson's Mill Historic Area (800-287-8206, http://www.jacksonsmill.wvu.edu), where Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson spent much of his boyhood. The original 1841 gristmill still stands just off Route 19 between Weston and Jane Lew, and has been joined by reassembled log structures.

At Appalachian Glass (499 U.S. Hwy. 33 E., Weston, 304-269-1030, http://www.appglass.com), see glass-blowing demonstrations or browse the gift shop.

Philippi, about 35 miles from Weston at routes 119 and 250, is the home of the Philippi mummies, two hospital patients whose unclaimed bodies were given to Philippi embalmer Graham Hamrick in 1888. (He was attempting to perfect an embalming technique.) The mummies repose at the Barbour County Historical Society Museum (200 N. Main St., Philippi, 304-457-4846) and may be viewed for $1.

WHERE TO EAT

The Second & Center Cafe (139 E. Second St., Weston, 304-517-1151) is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., and offers soups, salads, sandwiches and wraps.

Hickory House Restaurant (1137 U.S. Hwy. 19 N., Jane Lew, 304-269-7373) is three miles from Weston and serves some of the best pulled-pork anywhere in the East; also good ribs and catfish.

WHERE TO STAY

For privacy and seclusion, there is Gobblers Ridge Lodge Bed and Breakfast (about 18 miles from Weston at 1125 Butchers Fork Rd., Linn, 304-462-4294, http://www.gobblersridge.com), one perfect, rustic (in a good way) guest suite surrounded by forest and trails ($109 per night March through November, $89 per night December through February). Weston has a new Holiday Inn Express (215 Staunton Dr., 877-863-4780, http://www.hiexpress.com, about $95 on a weekend night). The Comfort Inn (2906 U.S. Hwy. 33 E., 304-269-7000, http://www.comfortinn.com, about $80 on a weekend night) is newly renovated.

-- K.L.