The Blackburn Wood is a forest tract in the suburban neighborhoods of west Oak Hill with easy access to the national park, the historic district, and the US-19 expressway. The tract is a quarter mile from the White Oak Rail Trail.

The property became associated with the locally influential Blackburn family, which acquired it as a retreat and horse farm in the 1970s. Though mostly wooded, nearly half of the acreage is formerly pasture and is in forage. Several large tree specimens grow throughout the property. A half-acre pond and riparian habitat are located near the frontage.

Click here for an interactive map on Landid

ATTRIBUTES AND HIGHLIGHTS

• 14 acres +/- in Oak Hill
• Adjoining America’s newest national park
• Potential for tourism-associated development
• Frontage on residential Collinwood Drive
• Half-acre pond and riparian habitat
• Approximately seven level acres and five sloping
• 800 feet from the White Oak Rail Trail
• Three miles from Needleseye Bouldering Park
• Three miles from the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
• Three miles from the Plum Orchard Lake Wildlife Management Area
• Four miles from the Summit Bechtel National Scout Reserve

LOCATION

Google Coordinates: 37.97251921272127, -81.16554464187443
Address: Collinwood Drive, Oak Hill, WV 25901 (Addresses aren’t assigned to properties without structures.)
Elevation Range: 1,995 to 2,035 feet

MINERAL RESOURCES

West Virginia law provides for separate ownership titles for surface and mineral rights: This property is being conveyed as surface-only.

BOUNDARIES AND SURVEY

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

UTILITIES

Water: West Virginia Water Co.
Electricity: American Electric Power
Natural Gas: Mountaineer Gas Co.
Internet: High-speed service available
Fire Service: Oak Hill Fire Department
Cell: 4G coverage supplied by several carriers
Sewer: Public service provided by Oak Hill Sanitary Board

ACCESS/FRONTAGE

The property enjoys dual street access, including more than 790 feet of frontage on Collinwood Drive and an entrance at the end of Vance Street. Multiple trails travel the property’s interior.

ZONING

Oak Hill and Fayette County are subject to zoning and subdivision regulations. All prospective buyers should consult the city and county for details on zoning and building codes.

DEED AND TAX INFORMATION

Deed Information: Fayette County Deed Book 627; Page 585
Acreage: 13.51 +/-

Real Estate Tax ID / Acreage / Taxes
Fayette County (10), Oak Hill District (9)

Parcel 1: Tax Map 36: Parcel 61
Parcel 2: Tax Map 30: Parcel 176

Both parcels are Class 4

2025 Real Estate Taxes: $555

PROPERTY TYPE/USE SUMMARY

The property is primarily forested and former pasture ground. A half-acre pond is located at the southwest corner. This summary is an estimation of current property use as determined from aerial photography. It is made subject to the estimation of property boundaries and to any errors in interpreting land use type from the aerial photography used.

FOREST RESOURCES

Approximately half of the property is wooded in oak and hickory forest, with a small area of evergreen laurel near the pond riparian zone. Nearly half of the most level part of the property is formerly pasture that has grown into a thicket of autumnberry.

WILDLIFE

Located along a forested corridor between two valleys, the property is home to a variety of wildlife. Deer wander the property in significant numbers, travelling between large forest tracts to the north and south. The occasional black bear and bobcat are visitors. Foxes, raccoons, and opossums live on and near the property. The dense thickets that have grown up on the pasture provide cover for quail, songbirds, rabbits, and fawns. The pond is a haven for amphibians as well as songbirds, marsh birds, and waterfowl, including the marsh wren, common yellowthroat, red-winged blackbird, and song and swamp sparrows.

PUBLIC & PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Oak Hill boasts a multi-use campus that houses its elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as the county’s Institute of Technology. The campus is accessible to a large portion of the city’s population via the White Oak Rail Trail. Several private schools within the Fayette County School District operate in the region, and homeschool programs are supported.

HIGHER EDUCATION

West Virginia University and New River Community & Technical College maintain campuses in Beckley, 20 miles to the south, and courses offered by Concord University and Bluefield State College are held at the Irma Byrd Center nearby in Beaver. Appalachian Bible College is a 15-minute drive.

HEALTHCARE

The nearest hospital to the property, Plateau Medical Center at Oak Hill, is a one-mile drive with 25 beds and an emergency care unit. Nearby at Beckley, Raleigh General Hospital, with 300 beds, and Appalachian Regional Hospital, with 173 beds, also include emergency rooms and are both approximately 20 minutes away. A Veterans Administration Medical Center is also located in Beckley. Major state medical centers are located in Charleston and Morgantown, an hour and 2.5 hours away, respectively.

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.

RECREATION

The New River Gorge region is known nationally as a chief destination for rock climbing and whitewater rafting. However, it affords access to a seemingly limitless variety of recreational pursuits now being explored by national park visitors. It invites 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 a half-hour drive south, and the Snowshoe Mountain ski areas are a two-hour drive to the northeast.

DINING & RETAIL

The property enjoys easy access to the New River Gorge and the Kanawha Valley, as well as a variety of dining and shopping venues. The greater Oak Hill 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

Blackburn Wood is located in one of the most popular outdoor recreation destinations in the U.S. along an expressway that provides access to a market area of more than 15,000 residents and more than 2,000,000 tourists annually. The market area includes the cities of Beckley (16,000 residents), Oak Hill (3,000 residents), Mount Hope (1,200 residents), and Fayetteville (2,700 residents).

City of Oak Hill

With a population of more than 3,000 residents, the City of Oak Hill is the 20th largest city in West Virginia and the largest in the northern New River Gorge region. It has long been the commercial center of the plateau district in the central county. In recent years, the city government has developed a diverse network of parks and public recreation areas, including an eight-mile rail trail and a bouldering and nature park featuring monolithic sandstone cliffs. Like the adjacent Town of Fayetteville, Oak Hill enjoys a dramatic increase in residential demand and commercial growth as a result of the dedication of the national park.

White Oak Rail Trail

The White Oak Rail Trail travels eight miles across the greater Oak Hill area, connecting the city with its cultural, educational, and recreational centers. A popular section of the trail approaches within a quarter-mile of the building, providing exceptional access for hikers and bikers. The trail is being extended as part of a state trail network to link Oak Hill with national park trails and the national scout reserve as well as population centers at Beckley and Fayetteville.

Oak Hill City Park

Oak Hill’s central park is a half mile walk from the property. It includes playgrounds and picnic areas and adjoins a private community pool and softball and junior league football fields. The Lewis Christian Community Center, an events center, is adjacent to the park. The White Oak Railroad Depot, on the National Register of Historic Places, is located near the corner of the park adjoining the rail trail.

Needleseye Bouldering Park

Named for a narrow rock cleft that leads into a two-mile garden of cliffs and house-sized boulders, Needleseye Park protects more than 280 acres of woodland in east Oak Hill. The park is a popular destination for hikers, rock climbers, and birdwatchers. The park’s chief attraction is bouldering, a variation of rock climbing. Thousands of expert climbers visit the region annually to scale the cliffs that line the rim of the New River Gorge.

REGIONAL ATTRACTIONS

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

America’s newest national park, the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, was established in 2020 and encompasses more than 72,808 acres in southern West Virginia. Two of the park’s visitor centers, at Thurmond and Canyon Rim, are a drive of 15 and 20 minutes from the woodland, respectively. One of the park’s best-known attractions, the New River Gorge Bridge, is a drive of approximately 15 minutes from the property. Hiking, rock climbing, and commercial whitewater rafting tours are popular in the gorge near the bridge.

Summit Bechtel National Scout Reserve

The Bechtel National Scout Reserve annually hosts thousands of scouts and their guests. Home of the National Scout Jamboree and a high-adventure base for the scouts, the reserve is one of four facilities managed by Scouting America and includes more than 14,000 acres adjacent to the national park. The 24th World Scout Jamboree in 2019 hosted more than 45,000 visitors. More than 20,000 scouts and their guests are expected to attend the 2026 jamboree.

White Oak Rail Trail

The White Oak Rail Trail travels eight miles across the greater Oak Hill area, connecting the city with its cultural, educational, and recreational centers. A popular section of the trail approaches within 800 feet of the woodland, providing exceptional access for hikers and bikers. The trail is being extended as part of a state trail network to link Oak Hill with national park trails and the national scout reserve, as well as population centers at Beckley and Fayetteville.

Needleseye Bouldering Park

Named for a narrow rock cleft that leads into a two-mile garden of cliffs and house-sized boulders, Needleseye Park protects more than 280 acres of woodland in east Oak Hill. The park is a popular destination for hikers, rock climbers, and birdwatchers. Its chief attraction is bouldering, a variation of rock climbing. Thousands of expert climbers visit the region annually to scale the cliffs that line the rim of the New River Gorge.

Plum Orchard Lake Wildlife Management Area

The 3,200-acre Plum Orchard Lake Wildlife Management Area ranges across a forest of oak and hickory that approaches the White Oak Woodland to the southwest. The area may be best known for Plum Orchard Lake, a 200-acre pond popular with flat-water kayakers. In season, the woodland surrounding the lake is a popular public hunting preserve.

DRIVE TIMES

The following mileage and drive time estimates are based on Google calculations.

55 miles to Charleston, West Virginia
90 miles to Blacksburg, Virginia
100 miles to Huntington, West Virginia
130 miles to Clarksburg, West Virginia
160 miles to Morgantown, West Virginia
170 miles to Winston-Salem, North Carolina
200 miles to Charlottesville, Virginia
215 miles to Columbus, Ohio
215 miles to Charlotte, North Carolina
225 miles to Lexington, Kentucky
225 miles to Knoxville, Tennessee
230 miles to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
250 miles to Cincinnati, Ohio
260 miles to Richmond, Virginia
300 miles to Cleveland, Ohio
315 miles to Washington, D.C.
350 miles to Baltimore, Maryland
350 miles to Erie, Pennsylvania
450 miles to Atlanta, Georgia