We visited Alderson in October 2025 as part of our October WV/NC Mountains loop.

Alderson is a tiny old railroad town along the Greenbrier River in southeastern West Virginia. It may be best known as the location of the federal womens’ prison where Martha Stewart did time, but it also has a historic downtown, and a West Virginia-famous Fourth of July celebration. We were in the area for a training course and didn’t actually spend any time exploring Alderson proper, but we loved our campground on the Greenbrier River, and we popped into Lewisburg for dinner and drinks one night.

Campground

Greenbrier River Campground is 20 minutes from Lewisburg, 30 minutes from The Greenbrier Resort, and one mile from the training class we were in the area to attend. It’s a lovely campground with half the campsites sited over the river, and several very cute rental cabins complete with fire pits and (clean–I was initially concerned, but they were fine) hot tubs, where our some of friends stayed.

The leaves were changing toward peak fall color, and we loved our campsite with a deck overlooking the river, a fire pit, and a picnic table. From our friends’ cabin, we could walk down to the river and hang out on the rocks. The railroad across the river was a bit noisy, but not a deal-breaker. We’d definitely stay at this campground again, and maybe take advantage of one of the river trips they offer.

Activities

I wish I could tell you about historic Alderson… maybe next time! Instead, the one night we ventured forth, we landed 20 minutes away in the much more happening Lewisburg for wandering, eating, and drinking.

The night before our course began, we had a group dinner at Del Sol. They had somehow lost our large table reservation but made it work on a very busy on Friday night, and we enjoyed our meal.

After dinner, we were in search of a bar to watch the USA-Ecuador soccer game, and found Washington St Pub, a friendly local Irish bar willing to put the game on for us.

That was our Friday night, and then we had two days of training, and left Monday morning after two nights of potluck dinners at our friends’ cabins, and breakfast at our picnic table before leaving town. The campground was a delight!

From Alderson, we drove a half hour down the road to The Greenbrier Resort for a friend’s birthday celebration, parking the Airstream at the White Sulphur Springs (btw it looks like the campground we stayed at in WSS in 2023 is no longer there) train station across the street from the resort. Our next camping destination was four hours south of The Greenbrier in Banner Elk, North Carolina.