While it is now the region’s primary tourism driver, the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system was at one time simply an ambitious idea of state lawmakers.

The Southern West Virginia-based trail system has a long and unique history. Its formation dates back to 1996, which is when a bill was first introduced in the West Virginia Legislature that called for the creation of a trail system in a bid to create economic development and tourism growth in the deep south counties, which were struggling at the time due to a sharp downtown in coal mining, the area’s primary source of employment for decades prior.