Relax in the glow of autumn

West Virginia's new Stonewall Resort basks in the finest of the season.

On a crisp fall morning, it's tempting to sit by a cozy fire, sipping coffee, with a quilt of crimson and golden colors stretched over the hills outside the window. Relax. You're on vacation. Tourists can laze around like house cats at West Virginia's luxurious new Stonewall Resort without feeling guilty. But dozens of other guests who are here for business conferences have to "work." They're up at first light and busy everywhere you look.

They're casting for lunkers in pools of watercolors beside the wooded shores of Stonewall Jackson Lake. They're teeing off on the golf course. By midmorning, exhausted, they're splayed out in the spa, getting rubdowns and facials.

It's a pleasure to come here on business, but it's an even bigger treat for vacationers. The resort, with a 198-room, Adirondack-style lodge as its centerpiece, is set down in the midst of 3,000-acre Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. The lodge opened last year as part of a $54 million public/ private project designed to make Stonewall one of the top state park resorts and conference centers in the country.

An Arnold Palmer Signature Golf Course edges around the lake and meanders over the mountains. "I like the natural look of it," says Randy Hernly, director of golf. "Every hole is memorable." Six sets of tees make it playable. "You can bite off as much as you can chew," he says. Stone walls and massive oak timbers frame the lodge's lobby, where 40-foot-tall windows overlook the lake. In Still-waters Restaurant, the main dining room, executive chef Dale Hawkins celebrates the flavors of local ingredients. The menu for the season includes autumn greens with West Virginia apples and corn-crusted rainbow trout with smoked tomato grits.

All of the lodge rooms feature views of the lake or golf course. If you're looking for something quieter, rent a houseboat at the marina, and slip away to a peaceful cove. You could also bunk down in one of the 10 comfortable and spacious new cottages nestled along the shore.

It's the time of year when the scenery takes center stage, whether you're playing golf, having dinner, or fishing. When the 26-mile-long lake holds up a mirror for the changing leaves, autumn seems twice as nice. LES THOMAS

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Sep 2003
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