Where to pan for gold in West Virginia
A free map of documented gold sites, claims and public land, plus the legends
West Virginia has documented gold occurrences, old workings and placer ground on the public record. Club 49 maps them alongside active mining claims, who manages the surface, and live creek flows, so you can see what is real and what is reachable before you drive. It is free, and you do not need an account to look.
On the map for West Virginia
| Layer | What it shows |
|---|
| Documented gold | USGS mineral records, old workings and placer ground |
| Claims & land status | BLM mining claims and who manages the surface |
| Water | Live USGS gauges and the months each creek runs lowest |
| Fossil ground | Published localities, colour-coded by whether you may collect |
| Legends | 8 mapped for West Virginia |
| Show caves | 2 in West Virginia · see them all |
| Haunted places | 1 in West Virginia · see them all |
The legends of West Virginia
- Thurmond — Population five, and it used to run the coal out of the gorge
- Nuttallburg — Coke ovens and a conveyor, facing another dead coal town across the river
- Kay Moor — A town at the bottom, the mine 560 feet up the gorge wall, conveyors between
- The Sodder children — Five children gone in a house fire that left no bone at all
- The Flatwoods Monster — A 1952 encounter with multiple witnesses and real physical after-effects
- Mothman — A year of sightings that stopped when the Silver Bridge fell, killing 46
- The Quiet Zone — A legally enforced radio-silent zone the size of a small country
- Grave Creek Mound — A 62-foot Adena mound, a museum dug inside it, and a hoax tablet
Haunted places in West Virginia
Show caves in West Virginia
More guides for this ground
Before you dig
A marker is a public record, not permission. Check ownership, active claims and the local rules first, the map shows all three.
Open the map