Eclipse draws crowd to Grandview
Apr. 8—All eyes were lifted to the skies Monday afternoon at Grandview to witness the solar eclipse.
Even with a persistent cloud cover, those seeking to view the eclipse at the National Park did not leave disappointed.
Maria and her husband, along with their three children, drove in from Virginia just to view the eclipse and take in the sights, having never visited the area before.
Maria, who didn't want to give her last name, said she was researching places to take her kids, ages 8, 6, and 4, when she stumbled upon the eclipse viewing event at Grandview.
"I was almost in tears on the way here because of the cloud cover, but I heard it was going to be like that anyway. So I was like, well, let's see what we can see, and this area is just so beautiful," she said.
The cloud cover actually seemed to add another layer of excitement for Maria and her family, as well as the dozens viewing the eclipse from their seats in the Cliffside Amphitheater at Grandview.
Every few minutes, shouts of "I can see it," "Look, look," or "It's back" would ring out when the clouds would shift, giving people a view of the bright orange crescent shape in the sky.
Despite the clouds, Maria said it was worth the trip. She added that before driving back the few hours to Virginia, they planned to view the New River Gorge Bridge and take in some other local sights.
While West Virginia was not one of the lucky states to be graced with a total eclipse, the partial eclipse, estimated to be a 90% totality solar eclipse, still made for a unique experience.
Ashley Bragg, of Grandview, shared the experience with her two daughters, Zayda, 7, and Nevaeh, 10, and her mother.
"I didn't realize this was such a big deal," Bragg said. "You know, I went and got my kids out of school. When you hear there's going to be an eclipse, I was like 'Oh, OK.' But I had no idea this was going to be like this. It's really cool."
Bragg said her daughters also participated in one of the park's special eclipse programs where kids could learn more about the eclipse in order to earn an Eclipse Explorer Junior Ranger Badge.
"My kids loved it. They think they're little Rangers now," Bragg said.
Bragg said trips to Grandview are nothing new for her family as they live a few minutes away.
"My kids love this park," she said. "But today will definitely be a day to remember for them."
Jodi French-Brurr, a park ranger with the National Park Service, said the eclipse served as a fun and unusual way to get people into the park.
"There's so many ways for people to go and explore their national parks and we're pretty lucky with being such a big site. For an event like this, Grandview is so open and spacious, and there's a lot of room for people to go and see the event from different areas in the park," French-Brurr said.
Around 3 p.m., with the eclipse still roughly 15 minutes away, French-Brurr said they'd had about 200 come through the park either to stay for the viewing of the eclipse or to pick up eclipse safety glasses and an eclipse pamphlet.
She said the weather likely had most looking for better viewing locations as they'd had nearly 1,000 people in Grandview when the last eclipse occurred in 2017.
"It's pretty cool to be able to celebrate with people the natural phenomena that are happening around here," she said. "For me, as a ranger, this is the really fun stuff to be out in the field when something exciting is going on that we can all share together and everybody's so happy to be here and excited about what's happening and excited about getting out and exploring the park."
French-Brurr said Monday's event was just one of dozens of events planned in the New River Gorge National Park in April and May as part of Spring Nature Fling 2024.
For a full list of events, go to nps.gov/neri/planyourvisit/spring-nature-fling.htm.
Email: jmoore@register-herald.com
