Canaan Valley () is a large bathtub-shaped upland valley in northeastern Tucker County, West Virginia, USA. Within it are extensive wetlands and the headwaters of the Blackwater River which spills out of the valley at Blackwater Falls. It is a well-known and partially undeveloped scenic attraction and tourist draw. Since 1994, almost 70% of the Valley has become the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the nation's 500th National Wildlife Refuge, with Canaan Valley Resort State Park and Blackwater Falls State Park nearby.
Canaan Valley was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1974. The National Park Service citation indicates that the Valley is "a splendid 'museum' of Pleistocene habitats ... contain[ing] ... an aggregation of these habitats seldom found in the eastern United States. It is unique as a northern boreal relict community at this latitude by virtue of its size, elevation and diversity."
The local pronunciation of "Canaan" is , rather than the conventional for the Biblical region from which the area questionably takes its name. According to legend, this is the result of improper pronunciation by the German settler who named the valley.
As the legend goes, he described the valley as being as gorgeous as the Canaan described in the Bible. His mispronunciation of the word stuck.
However, it has also been speculated for decades now that Canaan Valley early on was called the "Canadian Valley", little resembling the biblical Canaan's land of "milk and honey". That speculation is based on arguments that the valley looks very similar to Canada and was first described by early expeditions into it's wild, nearly impenetrable wilderness as a place suffix to strike terror into the hearts of men, not being fit for man or beast, and as harboring the dark River of Styx (River of the Dead), now called less frighteningly, the Blackwater River. Furthermore, the name "Canaan" is strikingly similar to "Canadian", with Canaan only missing only two letters (d & i) to spell "Canadian".
Geography
The Valley, nestled among the higher backbone ranges of the Allegheny Mountains, is about long and wide. It is defined by Canaan Mountain to the west and Cabin Mountain to the east. The northern half of Cabin Mountain is part of the Eastern Continental Divide.
The Valley floor is very flat, encompasses approximately 25,000 acres (although the greater Valley ecosystem is sometimes considered to consist of about 36,000 acres). The average valley floor elevation is above sea level, making it the highest sizable valley east of the Mississippi River. The surrounding mountains extend upward an additional at the summit of Weiss Knob on the southeastern rim of the valley.
The Blackwater River originates in the southern end of the Valley among numerous bogs and beaver ponds. The Falls of the Blackwater represent part of a water gap through which the river exits the Valley between Brown and Canaan Mountains before cascading through Blackwater Canyon.
Geology
Canaan Valley — like the very similar Burke's Garden in Virginia — is a southern "muskeg" occupying an anticline valley. The Valley itself is carved into the low dome of sedimentary rock known as the Blackwater Anticline, exposing the soft shales of the Mauch Chunk Formation. In the Canaan Valley region, the Blackwater River began carving into the underlying sedimentary rock layers of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age (345–270 million years ago) about one million years ago. The hard, erosion-resistant Pottsville Formation of sandstones is the higher layer supporting the mountains surrounding Canaan Valley and also constitutes the sharp rim of the nearby Blackwater Gorge. Tombstone-like outcroppings of Greenbrier Limestone are also exposed at places along the Valley floor. A relatively high area within the Valley – the Central Pocono Ridge – is composed of the erosion-resistant Pocono Group sandstone.
Climate
Because of its relatively high elevation of 3,200 feet, Canaan Valley has a cooler, moister climate than surrounding areas at lower altitudes.
Summers are cool and humid with afternoon maximum temperatures averaging in the mid 70s °F. Summer morning minimum temperatures average in the low to mid 50s °F. The average growing season of about 95 days is shorter than in Fairbanks, Alaska in interior central Alaska. Sub-freezing temperatures in the 20's F (-3 C or lower) have been recorded in all three summer months (Jun, Jul, Aug.).