The Summer of 2020 saw the construction of a beautiful rustic pavilion in the Day Use Parking Lot of Coopers Rock, just ¼ mile from the Interstate 68 Exit.  The 12’ square pavilion is an exact, scaled-down replica of the 16’ square pavilion at Coopers Rock’s Messinger Lake, a.k.a. Trout Pond, just two minutes away on the other side of Interstate 68.  It was built in memory of Anne Devine-King, of The West Virginia Sierra Club, who hiked on and led trail maintenance outings on Coopers Rock trails for several years.

Along with the construction of the pavilion came the expansion and improvement of its accompanying cement pad and sidewalk, and the addition of a matching picnic table.  Now, the Day Use Parking Lot features a small cluster of the following facilities designed to be accessible, all at A.D.A. standards:

*a gently-graded-to-flat sidewalk

*a restroom

*a pavilion on a flat pad with a front patio

*a picnic table

Anyone is free to use the pavilion and restrooms during daylight hours.  Located just steps away from a trail, the rustic, native-wood structure is the perfect spot to wait for your friends before a ride or after a hike, when it’s raining, when the sun shines bright, and when it’s snowing.  If you were out enjoying the trails, Anne would have been happy about that.  A memorial plaque for her will be mounted on the structure in 2021.

This structure was built by Rick and Eric Reese, and the cement work was done by Richie Fazenbacher.  The pavilion at Trout Pond upon which it was modelled is thought to have been built in the early 1950’s by the WV DNR, at the same time the pond’s dam and parking lot were constructed.  It was funded by the Coopers Rock Foundation with additional funding from the West Virginia Sierra Club.