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We have a confession. One of the main reasons we invested in Fayetteville – buying and renovating the building that now houses Lafayette Flats Boutique Vacation Rentals – was because we loved the food. Seriously. We both have enthusiastic palates. A few of our favorite Fayetteville dishes include Brussel sprouts from Secret Sandwich Society, homemade […]
Why Not Ours? Each of the four flats at Lafayette Flats Boutique Vacation Rentals has a different color palette, but one color runs through them all – green. The color of the forest. The color of life. The color green signifies abundance to our primitive brains, soothing even our modern anxieties. One way we bring […]
Southside Trail is an easy seven-mile riverside trail that provides great views of the New River and passes through several abandoned mining towns. Rush Run, Red Ash, and Brooklyn were all once-bustling communities located along this abandoned railroad line. It’s one of the few trails in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve that […]
Editor’s Note: Michele Sons was the first of three 2022 New River Gorge Creatives-in-Residence at Lafayette Flats. Michele is an exhibiting fine art landscape and portrait photographer originally from England and currently based in southwest Virginia. This is a excerpt from her recent blog post. I am recently home from a cold, beautiful, snowy month […]
Did you just give that title a double-take? It may be because you aren’t used to rivers flowing north; not many do. But the New River does, so head south from Fayetteville to explore the upper section of the New River Gorge. You’ll find a very different landscape upriver. Immediately, you’ll see a much wider, […]
Rail trails are former railroad corridors that have been converted for hiking & biking. These types of trails often have three tremendous advantages over regular hiking trails. First, rail trails often contain substantial infrastructure left behind by the railroad companies, like trestle bridges over creeks. These provide easy access to rugged areas of the forest. […]
Michele Sons of southwest Virginia, L. Renée of Columbus, OH and the creative partnership of Nevada Tribble and Andre Hoyos of northeastern West Virginia have been selected for the 2022 New River Gorge Creative Residency at Lafayette Flats Boutique Vacation Rentals. Michele Sons Michele Sons is an exhibiting fine art landscape and portrait photographer originally […]
America’s newest national park has received lots of media attention since its designation was announced in January 2021. As long-time New River Gorge enthusiasts, we are thrilled to share our playground with a wider audience and are thankful for the well-deserved media coverage, but we’ve found that many of the stories miss the mark. It’s […]
In 2013, when we began renovating the building that is now home to Lafayette Flats, vacation rentals were starting to really take off. But the idea of having several in one building was a complete novelty. We found ourselves in need of a quick way to accurately communicate what we were creating. Was it just […]
The best way to truly experience the New River Gorge National Park is to take the trails less traveled. By avoiding the most popular hiking areas – and other humans – you are much more likely to see wildlife, find undisturbed flora, and experience the natural rhythms of the forest. Here are five less traveled […]
