Several points of historical and recreational interest are located in the Bluestone area. For instance, famous outdoor musical dramas such as "Hatfields and McCoys," are performed at Grandview Park, near Beckley. Pipestem Resort with its myriad recreational facilities is only 10 miles to the south. Just north of the park is Bluestone Dam, Historic Hinton, and the New River Gorge National River, center of some of the state's best whitewater rafting and canoeing. Of special note are Sandstone Falls, just north of Hinton. Hunting and fishing opportunities abound at 17,632-acre Bluestone Wildlife Management Area adjacent to the park and nearby Camp Creek State Forest.

History: Bluestone State Park, named for it's many layers of bluish gray shale wedged between reddish sandstone deposits, may never have come into being in the early 1950s, had it not been for the construction of the Bluestone Dam, on the New River, in the 1940s.

Work began in March, 1942, by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Dravo Corporation, and was met with much enthusiasm by the local residents around Hinton. The prospect of much-needed employment, coupled with the economic impact that increased tourism would bring, had local officials and newspapers in Summers County looking to the future.

In 1943, progress on the dam slowed, then stopped. The impact and economic drain from World War II would put a halt to construction for two years. Work on the dam resumed in 1946, and the Bluestone Dam was completed in December of 1948.