A gay retreat in West Virginia
You don’t expect to find a gay haven in the backwoods of West Virginia, said Laura Moser in The New York Times. But the tiny community of Lost River is “definitively the backwoods,” and it’s slowly evolving into “a sort of Provincetown on the Potomac”—a getaway for gay weekenders from Washington, D.C., about two hours away. “The beauty of Lost River, beyond its rolling green hills and clear streams snaking through hardwood forests, is its surprising cosmopolitanism.” The area’s first gay tourists were attracted by the Guesthouse Lost River, a small upscale lodge that started advertising in gay publications in the early 1980s. Gay and lesbian couples have since been major contributors to the local economy, creating the Lost River Farmers Market and, just this year, the upscale Lost River Trading Post. Thanks to the area’s “live and let live” attitude, more and more same-sex couples are choosing Lost River for their wedding receptions.
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