POSSUM TROT HOLLOW AT BEAR TRACK is a 25 +/- acre property located in Monroe County, West Virginia, just 3 miles from the Moncove Lake Wildlife Management Area. The proximity to Moncove Lake makes a wonderful addition to this tract, offering outdoor activities right at your fingertips in the forest and the lake. Moncove Lake State Forest offers a swimming beach, fishing, boating, and in-ground swimming pool, hunting, hiking and many other activities. The cabin is set up for a hunting lodge that could very well be transformed into a vacation home, with kitchen, bath, living room and dining room, together with two large bedrooms in the loft of the cabin. The cabin is wired for electricity, but no on-site electricity is available, and the power sources would need to come from solar power or a generator. There is a well on the property that can either work with electricity or by hand pump. There is a large deck on the back of the cabin that overlooks the Jefferson National Forest in the distance. The cabin is located approximately two miles off Rt. 8, which goes to Moncove Lake and is very secluded and private.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 25 +/- acres
• 16′ x 20′ 2-story cabin
• Living room, kitchen, and one bathroom downstairs
• Two bedrooms upstairs
• 12′ x 20′ back deck
• Covered 6′ x 8′ front porch
• Water well
• Septic system installed
• Ideal weekend getaway
• Great hunting nearby in Jefferson National Forest and also at Greenbrier State Forest
• Very secluded and private
• No county zoning that would restrict development of the property
• Low population density
• Low taxes
• Little to no light pollution for spectacular stargazing and astrophotography
• Near to Roanoke, Blacksburg & Lewisburg with jet airports, interstates, hospitals, shopping, city amenities
• Dark skies offer excellent opportunities for star gazing and astrophotography
• 45 minutes to the world-renowned Greenbrier Resort
• A rewarding permaculture lifestyle can be easily developed
• Surrounded by National Forest, Wildlife Management Area, farms and timber tracts in a nice rural neighborhood
• Perfect for recreational activities including water sports, ATV riding, horseback riding, hiking, camping, hunting and nature viewing
• Nature, scenic, and historic attributes provide exceptional quality of life values
• Elevations range from about 2624 ft. to 3000 ft.

LOCATION

Google Coordinates: 37.628602°(N), -80.316335°(W)
Address: Bear Track Road, Gap Mills, WV 24941. No 911 address assigned to properties without structures.
Elevation Range: 2624 ft. to 3000 ft. +/-

Driving Times (approximate)

Towns:
Alderson: 45 minutes
Athens and Concord University: 1 hour 25 minutes
Beckley: 1 hour 25 minutes
Blacksburg, VA and Virginia Tech: 1 hour 30 minutes
Bluefield: 1 hour 30 minutes
Lewisburg and Osteopathic School of Medicine: 50 minutes
Peterstown: 50 minutes
Princeton: 1 hour 20 minutes
Union: 25 minutes
White Sulphur Springs: 45 minutes

Airports:
Greenbrier Valley Airport, Lewisburg: 1 hour
Mercer County Airport, Bluefield: 1 hour 30 minutes
Raleigh County Memorial Airport, Beckley: 1 hour 30 minutes
Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport, Blacksburg, VA: 1 hour 30 minutes

Recreation:
Golf – Fountain Springs Golf Course: 50 minutes
Golf – Pipestem Resort State Park: 1 hour 30 minutes
Golf – Willow Wood Country Club Golf Course: 1 hour
Lake – Bluestone Lake, Hinton: 1 hour 10 minutes
Lake – Moncove Lake State Park, Gap Mills: 5 minutes
Nature Trail – Mill Creek Nature Park Trails, Narrows, VA: 1 hour 10 minutes
Skiing – Winterplace Ski Resort, Ghent: 1 hour 35 minutes
State Park – Camp Creek State Park & Forest: 1 hour 30 minutes
State Park – Bluestone State Park, Hinton: 1 hour 10 minutes
State Park – Moncove Lake State Park, Gap Mills: 5 minutes
State Park – Pipestem Resort State Park, Pipestem: 1 hour 30 minutes
State Fair of West Virginia, Fairlea: 45 minutes

WILDLIFE

Years of progressive wildlife management practices by the State of West Virginia at nearby Moncove Lake Wildlife Management Area have created an essential wildlife preserve.  Early on, MLWMA goals promoted overall wildlife health, facilitated the harvest of game, developed wildlife viewing areas, increased carrying capacity, and increased species diversity.

Possum Trot Hollow has a mixture of mature hardwood species.  The diverse tree species, coupled with abundant water supply from the seasonal creeks and springs, create a perfect wildlife habitat.  The creeks, hollows, ridges, rock outcroppings and forest, are the textbook habitat benefiting all the resident wildlife, bald eagles, whitetail deer, black bear, wild turkey, squirrels, rabbits, bobcats, raccoons, foxes and many species of songbirds, owls, and raptors make up the resident wildlife population.  The hardwood forest provides an essential nutrient source and produces tons of hard mass including acorns, hickory nuts, beechnut, and black walnuts.  Soft mass includes sage horns, black cherry, tulip poplar seeds, maple seeds, autumn olive berries, and blackberries.

FOREST FARMING

The most common crops are medicinal herbs and mushrooms. Other crops that can be produced include shade-loving native ornamentals, moss, fruit, nuts, other food crops, and decorative materials for crafts. These crops are often referred to as special forest products.

Here are some specific examples of crops in each category that are currently being cultivated:

• Medicinal herbs: Ginseng, goldenseal, black cohosh, bloodroot, passionflower, and mayapple
• Mushrooms: Shiitake and oyster mushrooms
• Native ornamentals: Rhododendrons and dogwood
• Moss: Log or sheet moss
• Fruit: Pawpaws, currants, elderberries, and lowbush blueberries
• Nuts: Black walnuts, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, and beechnuts
• Other food crops: Ramps (wild leeks), maple syrup, and honey
• Plants used for decorative purposes, dyes, and crafts: Galax, princess pine, white oak, pussy willow branches in the spring, holly, bittersweet, and bloodroot and ground pine (Lycopodium)

SELF SUSTAINING LIFE OFF THE GRID

Just as 150 years ago, when the first mountaineers settled the area, the property can be self-sustaining in times of necessity – even without electricity.

1. Fresh water for drinking and cooking can come from mountain springs or a drilled water well (hand drawing water from the well using a cylinder well bucket).
2. The creeks and forest can provide fresh food (deer, squirrel, rabbit, and turkey).
3. Clearing land for agriculture can provide vegetable gardens, berry patches, fruit orchards, and row crops of corn, oats and barley.
4. Bee hives can provide honey and beeswax for candles and pollenate the fruit trees.
5. The forest can provide firewood for heating and cooking, lumber for building, maple syrup and pounds of nuts (walnuts, beechnuts and hickory nuts).
6. A vineyard could be created to provide jellies, jams, juices and wines.
7. Livestock can be raised including dairy cows, chickens, geese, turkey, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs and cattle. Milk, cheese, eggs, meat, wool, leather, fur, feather pillows and down comforters can all be produced.

PERMACULTURE FARMING

The three core tenets of permaculture are:

• Care for the earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.
• Care for the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence
• Setting limits to population and consumption: By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles. This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness. The third ethic is sometimes referred to as Fair Share, which reflects that each of us should take no more than what we need before we reinvest the surplus.

Permaculture design emphasizes patterns of landscape, function, and species assemblies. It determines where these elements should be placed so they can provide maximum benefit to the local environment. Permaculture maximizes useful connections between components and synergy of the final design. The focus of permaculture, therefore, is not on each separate element, but rather on the relationships created among elements by the way they are placed together; the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Permaculture design therefore seeks to minimize waste, human labor, and energy input by building systems, and maximizes benefits between design elements to achieve a high level of synergy. Permaculture designs evolve over time by taking into account these relationships and elements and can evolve into extremely complex systems that produce a high density of food and materials with minimal input.

The design principles, which are the conceptual foundation of permaculture, were derived from the science of systems ecology and study of pre-industrial examples of sustainable land use. Permaculture draws from several disciplines including organic farming, agroforestry, integrated farming, sustainable development, and applied ecology. Permaculture has been applied most to the design of housing and landscaping, integrating techniques such as agroforestry, natural building, and rainwater harvesting within the context of permaculture design principles and theory.

FOREST/TIMBER RESOURCES

The property is composed of quality Appalachian hardwood, white pine, and hemlock.  Capital timber value of the timber and pulpwood has not been determined at this time but is considered a long-term investment.

MONCOVE LAKE STATE PARK

Moncove Lake State Park offers a peaceful setting for families to enjoy the outdoors. The park is a popular destination for outdoor social gatherings, quiet strolls, camping and water recreation. This 250-acre park contains a larger, 500-acre wildlife management area. Located in the hills of the southeastern edge of the state, near Union in Monroe County, the park offers many opportunities for fishing, hunting, boating, swimming, birdwatching and hiking.

The Moncove Lake area was established in 1960, following the damming of Devil Creek in eastern Monroe County. The lake was built as part of the Moncove Lake Hunting and Fishing Area. In 1991, 250 acres were set aside as a state park. The remainder of the land continues to be managed as a wildlife management area. The park has since been expanded to 896 acres. The park sits on the shores of 144-acre Moncove Lake, and underneath the flyway of the Fall Hawk migration.

Moncove Lake State Park’s campground includes 48 tent and trailer sites, 25 of which have electric hookups. There are picnic tables and fire rings with grill surfaces, drinking water, a dump station and a central bathhouse with showers. Firewood is available for purchase upon your arrival. West Virginia State Park campground reservations are available from Memorial Day through Labor Day each year. Campgrounds are open on a first-come, first-serve basis through October 31.

Three picnic shelters are available to reserve, fully equipped with grills and tables. Playgrounds, restroom facilities, and a swimming pool open from Memorial Day to Labor Day will make your gathering complete!

More than 160 species of birds have been seen around Moncove Lake. The area is a birding hot spot due to nearby Peter’s Mountain and the ridge-and-valley section of the Appalachian Mountains. These ridges act as funnels for birds migrating in the fall and present excellent chances to glimpse birds that are considered rare or unusual for this region. On Peter’s Mountain during peak days in September, Broad Winged hawks are counted by the hundreds, and migrating hawks of nearly every eastern species and numerous songbirds can be seen throughout the month of September and into October. Witness the annual migration of birds of prey as they travel the eastern flyway passing through Monroe County, WV. Migration typically begins in early September through October, however, late September usually brings the most sightings.

THE SURROUNDING AREA

The charming village of Union, which is the Monroe County seat, is less than a 25 minute drive. Banking, healthcare facilities, drugstore, grocery shopping, farm center, auto parts store and a great family restaurant are readily available. Some of the friendliest people in West Virginia can be found in Monroe County.

Lewisburg, which is the Greenbrier County seat, was voted the Coolest Small Town in American in 2011 and is just a 45 minute drive to the thriving downtown historic district. The downtown boasts a year round live theatre, Carnegie Hall, several fabulous restaurants, antique shops and boutiques. There is also a modern hospital and all attendant medical facilities along with all the big box stores.

The Greenbrier County Airport, which has WV’s longest runway, is located just 30 minutes away and has daily flights to Atlanta and Washington DC. The world famous Greenbrier Resort is less than an hour’s drive and Snowshoe Ski Resort is about 2 hours’ drive. Covington, Virginia is about 50 minutes away, Roanoke, Virginia, is 90 minutes, DC is 4 hours and Charlotte, North Carolina is 3 hours away.

The Greenbrier resort features an ever-expanding schedule of public events.  In 2014, the resort recently opened a new $30 million training facility for the professional and collegiate football teams.  A 2500-seat tennis stadium to host professional matches was opened in 2015.

WATER

There is a stream that flows through the northern portion of the property for about 2/10 mile. The stream should have water flow especially during rain events and snow melt.

MINERAL RESOURCES

West Virginia is one of the states in the US 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 when the surface title search is being conducted.

BOUNDARIES AND SURVEY

The lots comprising this property were individually surveyed in 1981, and metes and bounds descriptions for the lots are used in the owner’s deeds. A portion of the southern property boundary fronts on the road. The property is being sold by the boundary and not by the acre.

UTILITIES

Water:  Well
Sewer:  Installed septic system
Electricity:  Available only by generator or solar power
Telephone:  Landline service is not available
Internet:  Available from HughesNet or similar service provider
Cellphone Coverage:   Fair

ACCESS/FRONTAGE

The property has a deeded right-of-way, providing access to the public road system.

ZONING

There is currently no county zoning in Monroe County. All prospective purchasers are encouraged to contact the Monroe County Health Department for answers regarding installation of septic systems and water wells. Further information on county zoning may be answered by contacting the Monroe County Commission.

DEED AND TAX INFORMATION

Deed Information: DB 313 Pg. 765 TRACT ONE (Lot 55); DB 315 Pg. 433 (Lot 54),
Monroe County, West Virginia

Acreage: 25.22 acres +/-

Real Estate Tax ID/Acreage/Taxes:
Monroe County (32), West Virginia
Sweet Springs District (6)
Tax Map 7 Parcels 33 and 34; Class 2

2024 Real Estate Taxes: $403.82

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Monroe County School District
Public Elementary School:
Mountain View Elementary School

Public Middle School:
Mountain View Middle School

Public High School:
James Monroe High School