This 164-acre woodland parcel at the rim of the New River Gorge adjoins the boundary of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and includes a half-mile of cliff line with scenic views. The property neighbors the exclusive Wild Rock residential community and the Adventures on the Gorge outdoor adventure resort.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Adjoins the boundary of the America’s newest National Park
• Clifftop views of New River Gorge
• A 360-degree view from Harvey Knob
• Eighth of a mile from Wild Rock
• A quarter mile from Adventures on the Gorge
• Two miles from New River Gorge Bridge
• Three miles from Endless Wall Hiking Trail
• Four miles from downtown Fayetteville
• Public water to property boundaries

LOCATION

Google Coordinates: 38.134605, -81.144843
Address: Chestnutburg Road, Lansing, WV 25862  (No 911 address is assigned to property without structures)
Elevation Range: 1,560 ft. to 1,907 ft. +/-

FOREST/TIMBER RESOURCES

The property is entirely forested. An assessment of the value of timber has not been recently conducted.

WILDLIFE

The property is home to much wildlife, including deer, squirrels, and wild turkeys. Bear and bobcat are frequent visitors to the area though they may not be denned on the property.

MINERAL RESOURCES

West Virginia is one of the states in the U.S. that has two ownership titles, those being SURFACE RIGHTS and MINERAL RIGHTS. A title search for mineral rights ownership has not been conducted. All rights the owner has will convey with the property. A mineral title search could be conducted by a title attorney at the same time as the surface title search is being conducted.

BOUNDARIES AND SURVEY

The property is being sold by the boundary and not by the acre.

UTILITIES

Water: Public to the property boundary
Sewer: Septic Required
Electricity: At the frontage
Telephone: Cell service is available through multiple carriers
Internet: The Internet is available through multiple carriers

ACCESS/FRONTAGE

The property is on Chestnutburg Road. A gravel driveway off the road onto the upper property is gated.

ZONING

Fayette County is subject to some zoning and subdivision regulations. All prospective buyers should consult the County Commission and also the Health Department for details regarding zoning, building codes, and installation of septic systems.

PROPERTY TYPE/USE SUMMARY

The property is entirely forested but is zoned residential at its frontage on Chestnutburg Road.

HEALTHCARE

Hospitals with emergency units are located nearby Oak Hill and Montgomery, 30 and 25 minutes from the property, respectively. State medical centers at Charleston and Morgantown are an hour’s drive west and a two-and-a-half-hour drive north. A Veterans Administration Medical Center is located at Beckley, a drive of just less than an hour south. Several medical and emergency care clinics serve the upper Kanawha Valley region, while the area’s moderate climate and access to trails, gymnasiums, and athletic centers support healthy living. The nearest hospital to the property, Montgomery General Hospital, is a drive of approximately 20 miles.

VETERANS MEDICAL

West Virginia has VA Hospitals in Beckley, Clarksburg, Martinsburg, and Huntington. Nearby Community-Based Outpatient VA Clinics are in Clarksburg, Gassaway, Parkersburg, Parsons, Petersburg, Princeton, Ronceverte/Lewisburg ,South Charleston and Westover West Virginia.

TRANSPORTATION

Motor Vehicle / Interstate expressways 77 and 64 and US-19 join nearby, providing easy access to Richmond, Charlotte, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C. Flight / Yeager Airport, at Charleston, is the largest and busiest flight-service center in the region. Rail / The Amtrak passenger station at Montgomery is a 20-minute drive from the property and provides direct access to Charleston, Washington, Chicago, and New York City.

Approximate hourly drive times to regional U.S. cities include
Fayetteville, WV 10 minutes
Oak Hill, WV 15 minutes
Beckley, WV 35 minutes
Lewisburg, WV 1 hour 15 minutes
The Greenbrier Resort, 1.5 hours
Snowshoe, WV 2 hours, 20 minutes
Princeton, WV 1 hour
Bluefield, WV 1 hour 20 minutes
Summersville, WV 25 minutes
Flatwoods, WV 1 hour
Clarksburg, WV 1 hour 50 minutes
Wheeling, WV 3.5 hours
Huntington, WV 1.5 hours
Charleston, W.Va., 1 hour
Morgantown, W.Va., 2.5 hour
Columbus, Ohio, 2.5 hours
Pittsburgh, Pa., 3.5 hours
Cincinnati, Ohio, 4 hours
Charlottesville, Va., 3.5 hours
Richmond, Va., 4.5 hours
Winston-Salem, N.C., 3.5 hours
Charlotte, N.C.: 4 hours
Washington, D.C., 5 hours

CLIMATE

The gorge sustains a microclimate more typical of warmer, southerly latitudes due partly to the sheltering nature of its narrow valley. Though the river may appear as a large mountain stream, it has already traveled more than 300 miles from the summits of the Blue Ridge in North Carolina and has heated over time. The gorge is a preferred location for gardens as its warm microclimate accommodates a longer growing season. It remains relatively free of heavier snow that blankets the surrounding highlands. Mean annual precipitation at the property is estimated at 37 to 47 inches, mean annual air temperature at 50 to 52 degrees F, and frost-free period at 140 to 170 days.

PUBLIC & PRIVATE SCHOOLS

The area is well-served by public and private schools. Public school students living in the Chimney Corner area may attend Ansted Elementary School, Oak Hill Middle School, Midland Trail High School, or Oak Hill High School. Several private schools are available in the area.

HIGHER EDUCATION

The property is a drive of 15 miles from Bridgeview Community College at Montgomery. Many other institutions of higher education are located nearby. An hour’s drive to the west, the University of Charleston reports a student population of 2,949 in 2014. An hour’s drive to the south, Beckley is the higher-education center of southern West Virginia and is notably the site of the southern campus of West Virginia University, which reported 1,622 students in 2018. Marshall University at Huntington, a drive of about an hour and a half, is the region’s largest university and reported a student population of more than 12,000 in 2022.

RECREATION

Residency in the New River Gorge region affords access to a seemingly limitless variety of recreational pursuits. Its parks invite hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, paddling, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting, and the area accommodates a number of walking and field sports facilities, including stadiums, playgrounds, and walking and biking trails. Skiing and snow-tubing at Winterplace is an hour’s drive south.

DINING & RETAIL

The property is centrally located between the New River Gorge and Kanawha Valley regions and enjoys access to a variety of dining and shopping venues in both directions. Nearby, the Fayetteville area is notably home to more than a dozen noteworthy independent restaurants designed to appeal to visitors to the national park. An hour’s drive west, the Charleston metropolitan area boasts the state’s highest concentration of restaurants and retail centers.

SURROUNDING AREA

The property is located in one of the most popular outdoor recreation destination areas in the U.S.  More than two million visitors tour the region annually, climbing rocks, paddling streams, hiking, biking, and running on miles of scenic trails. The Boy Scouts of America has established its national Jamboree site here as a result of its unrivaled access to outdoor recreation. Winter attracts another clientele—skiers bound for the slopes at Winterplace, a drive of 40 minutes to the south, and Snowshoe Mountain, a drive of two-and-a-half hours to the northeast.

It also benefits from its proximity to Adventures on the Gorge, one of the most popular outdoor adventure resorts in the U.S., a pioneer in the whitewater-rafting industry that helped set the stage for high-end economic development in the region.

It also enjoys more than its share of singular shops, pubs, and restaurants, many of which cluster around Fayetteville, a five-minute drive from the property. Other exceptional eateries and retail destinations are located an hour west of the state capitol at Charleston and an hour east at historical Lewisburg, ranked one of the most livable small towns in the U.S. by National Geographic Magazine.

The region is perhaps best known as of the most popular rock-climbing destinations in the world. Thousands of climbers annually scale the more-than-60 miles of a cliff on the gorges of the New, Gauley, and Meadow rivers. Outside magazine rated the New River Gorge the third most popular climbing area in the U.S. in 2019. It includes some of the most scenic sport climbs in the western hemisphere. The American Alpine Club maintains an ecologically integrated campground for climbers less than a mile from the frontage.

Hikers, paddlers, and bicyclists are also drawn to the region in increasing numbers. USA Today in 2015 named the Endless Wall Trail—a drive of only five minutes from the property—the best hiking trail in the U.S. national park system. Whitewater rafting has long been a mainstay of tourism on the New and Gauley rivers, though kayaking has grown tremendously throughout West Virginia, outpacing the growth of the pastime nationally.

The region is also renowned for golf, and more than a score of courses are within a drive of just more than an hour, including three at The Greenbrier, home of the PGA tour, and three at nearby Glade Springs Resort. The Oakhurst Links, the first course in the U.S., is just over an hour’s drive.

Access to the area is easy. The US-19 expressway travels through the heart of the region, and Interstates 77 and 64 area are a drive of only half an hour by expressway to the south at Beckley. I-79 is a 45-minute drive by expressway to the north. The state capital at Charleston is an hour’s drive west by several routes.

Amtrak passenger stations on the Chicago-New York route are located a half-hour to the south near Beckley and an hour’s drive east and west at Charleston and White Sulphur Springs.

Public airports that offer jet service are located 40 minutes to the south at Beckley and an hour west and east at Charleston and Lewisburg, though small airfields within a five-minute drive accommodate small planes.

ADVENTURES ON THE GORGE

Less than a quarter mile from the property, one of the nation’s leading outdoor-adventure resorts is a short drive or walk by woodland trail from the property. Locals and their guests are welcome to take advantage of the resort’s restaurants and pubs as well as its outfitter shop, canopy tour network, and gorge-view swimming pool. Shuttles to rafting and climbing adventure venues on the rocks and rivers depart daily.

FAYETTEVILLE

The county seat of Fayette County, Fayetteville, is perhaps best known as the outdoor-recreation capital of southern West Virginia. Thousands of tourists visit the town annually, perusing its outfitters and dining in its unique pubs and restaurants. A drive of about 10 minutes from the property, it’s also home to the county’s chief shopping district, which includes many national chain stores and restaurants. The town’s population was estimated at 2,782 in 2018.

OAK HILL

Oak Hill is the largest municipality in Fayette County, with a population estimated at more than 8,200 residents. Like Fayetteville, which it adjoins to the south, the city is strongly tied to outdoor recreation and boasts the largest city-owned rock-climbing park in the U.S. Its downtown business district and six expressway exits on US-19 accommodate unmatched commercial access.

THE SUMMIT

As a result of unrivaled access to recreation, the Boy Scouts of America established its national Jamboree site on more than 12,000 acres at the Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, also known as the Summit. The organization has since invested more than $300,000,000 in the acquisition and buildout. The Summit also hosts the national leadership center for the scouts as well as one of its five high-adventure bases. More than 50,000 scouts and leaders from more than 40 countries attended the World Jamboree in 2019.

NEW RIVER GORGE BRIDGE

The New River Gorge Bridge arcs across the chasm of the New River Gorge like a rainbow of dusky metal, spanning more than 3,000 feet. Now a national historical landmark, it was designed to complement the gorge while completing a vital expressway through the Appalachians. When it opened in 1977, it was the longest such bridge in the world, a marvel that cut drive time across the gorge from forty minutes to less than a minute. It is among the most photographed landmarks in West Virginia. The National Park Service has opened its Canyon Rim Visitor Center at the north end of the span, beneath which guided tours on the catwalk suspended more than 800 feet above the river may be arranged by appointment.

BABCOCK & HAWKS NEST STATE PARKS

Located to the east and west of the property, state parks and Babcock and Hawks Nest include two of the most scenic locales in the state as well as remarkable lodging and recreational opportunities. The largest state park in West Virginia, Babcock may be best known for its scenic gristmill, photos of which adorn puzzles and postcards globally. The park also is also known for its rustic cabins, many of which are hewn of massive logs laid by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Hawks Nest is renowned for its clifftop views of the New River Gorge and for its scenic aerial tramway, which carries guests to the New River and back to the Hawks Nest Lodge. Hawks Nest also boasts corps-built historic structures of stone and timber.

GEOLOGY

The New River Gorge is part of one of the world’s oldest river systems, estimated by some geologists to be as much as 320 million years old. Its formation predates the uplift of the surrounding mountains, through which the river has cut its winding channel. The defining feature of the gorge is its sharply defined rim, along which outcrop massive cliffs. Extending for some ten miles along the river from near Sewell to Hawks Nest, the gorge lends its name to the New River Gorge National River, which includes much of the formation as well as the steep-walled New River Valley that extends upstream to near Hinton.

The cliffs along the rim of the gorge are composed of a layer of extremely hard sandstone, the durability of which has resisted erosion, creating tablelands that extend for miles beyond the rim. This durability, combined with cliff height, which exceeds 100 feet in places, and the presence of vertical cracks, has helped make the gorge one of the chief rock-climbing destinations in the U.S.