Rustic Ravines and co-owner Joe Boffo were featured in a story on an expanding recreation corridor in Southern West Virginia recently posted on the Huntington Area Development Council website. The piece highlighted plans for the Appalachian Heartland Highway (AHH) planned along West Virginia Rt. 152. Earlier this year, a federally funded planning initiative was completed to establish and enhance recreational assets along the corridor and drive tourism into Southern West Virginia.
Boffo was identified as one of several key stakeholders and business owners investing big dollars in the region, and “Premier cabin rentals” at Rustic Ravines were included among the region’s tourism-related attractions. The AHH plan, funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission, calls for building a new welcome center — known as the Gateway to Appalachian Welcome Center, off I-64 near Huntington and 27 miles north of Rustic Ravines — as essential to spurring tourism development.
“We see the AHH 152 Tourism Corridor as the new Gatlinburg,” said Boffo. Rt. 152 is a main north-south transportation artery through Wayne County, where Rustic Ravines is located. Other tourism attractions along the corridor include the Heritage Farm and Museum, scenic Beech Fork State Park, East Lynn Lake Recreation Area, two championship-quality golf courses, and the popular Hatfield McCoy Trail System.
The website story described Rustic Ravines as having the “pastoral charm of Southern West Virginia coupled with high-end amenities and mountains of activities within a short drive.”
“We have lit the fuse here on this side of the state at both ends of the 152 Tourism Corridor,” Boffo said. “Now, we just need to fill in the blanks!”
You can read the entire story here:
