When they nicknamed West Virginia the Mountain State, they weren't kidding. We've driven through small communities there that have been shaped, literally, by the steep terrain squeezed so tightly between two mountainsides that there's only room for one road and a single line of houses. The scenic Appalachian roads provide plenty of photo stops; the state's plunging rivers make it one of the premier destinations for white-water rafting in the U.S.; and the mountainous parks and forests are great places for skiing, rock climbing and hiking. It has a luxurious mineral-water spas and historic sites that yield a better understanding of how these mountains have shaped the course of U.S. history, from westward expansion to the Civil War to the turbulent coal-mining era of the early 1900s.