“Whenever I travel anywhere in the state and many places in this country, I can let people know where I’m from by asking if they know where Smoke Hole or Seneca Rocks is,” shared Jessica Hoover, one of Pendleton County’s West Virginia University extension agents.
She added that “while normally they do, I’ve always felt like there was so much more to the county that visitors to those destinations alone are missing.” In the past two years, the Pendleton County Farm Crawl has taken up the challenge offered by the report.
As Hoover said, “the Pendleton County Farm Crawl has grown from 2025 to 2026, not only in the number of producers, but attendees as well.”
In March of 2020, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and the West Virginia University Extension Service published “A Shared Agenda for Growing West Virginia’s Agricultural Economy.” The report cited the advancing age of farmers in West Virginia at 57.2 years, but also noted that the Mountain State has the second lowest value of land east of the Mississippi. That lowers the potential barrier of entry into farming considerably.
It also added that while animal sales represented the core of the state’s production, that “opportunities” exist in other areas as well, including “sheep/lamb, honey, wine grapes/wineries, cider, hops, maple sap/syrup, jerky, hemp, medical marijuana, lavender, and ginseng/forest farming. These sectors can help grow the agricultural economy through new markets, new producers, and diversified production methods.”
A decade ago, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture saw potential for growth in agritourism. At that point, that sub sector accounted for an $8.6 million impact on the state economy. In that same year, Virginia enjoyed a $1.2 billion impact. One of the problems seen in the 2020 report lay in lower revenues enjoyed by farms in their agritourism ventures.
The report urged organizing similar ventures into regional promotion plans referred to as “cluster models.” It stated that “A cluster model helps to support individual agritourism businesses and grow the industry as a whole. These ventures can be successful on their own, but have a higher chance of success if they are part of a regional tourism cluster.”
One example of such a “cluster model” has been West Virginia Maple Days that has seen success in several different regions, including Pendleton County.
Additional advice included leaning heavily on local convention and visitors bureaus and other county-based organizations related to the field for help in development and promotion.
The report, however, leaves it to those local organizations to create effective ways to put that together.
In the Potomac Highlands, one of those “cluster models” took the form of a farm crawl. Hampshire County pioneered the event several years ago with a self-guided and mapped tour of local farms welcoming visitors to peruse products, enjoy presentations, and learn more about farming in eastern West Virginia. Its success led Pendleton County’s agriculture, business, and tourism communities to find ways to adapt the model to this area.
Hoover shared that those who participated “grow and showcase both our traditional agriculture and the farms that have blended agriculture and tourism into a memorable visitor experience.” She went on to add that “we had a few new faces participating as stops on the crawl, including Mountaineer Adventure Park, Harpers Old Country Store, Shreve’s Country Store, and Art and Shine.” They joined veteran participants Pendleton County Farmers Market, Dry Run Spirits Distillery, Blackthorn Lavender, OMG Acres, and Mountain Cajun Getaway.
Many of these have evolved as unique business models during the years that intertwine the farming and tourism experience. Also, as Hoover points out, the crawl pulls visitors to parts of the county that are still stunning and fun, but not as well-known as Spruce Knob and Seneca Rocks.
Hoover explained why Pendleton County should serve as an agritourism showcase, saying, “Pendleton County is . . . one of West Virginia’s strongest agricultural counties, ranking second in the state for total products sold.”
With growth in “memorable visitor experience(s),” Hoover believes that “we are on the right track towards that and I’m excited to see the future of the farm crawl.”
Planning for next year’s Pendleton County Farm Crawl starts in the fall. Anyone that is interested or has ideas and questions can reach out to Hoover at ja******@******vu.edu or call (304) 358-2286 ext. 22.
