Misplaced Pages

#319680

46-587: Thanks to frequent rains and a high elevation, the wilderness provides habitat not found in other areas of the southern Appalachians, habitats such as mountain bogs, vernal ponds and red spruce wetlands. The area is part of the Mountain Lake Wilderness Cluster . The wilderness is about 10 miles northwest of Pembroke, Virginia in Craig and Giles Counties in southwest Virginia, and Monroe County, West Virginia. State route 615 passes along

92-430: A 15-year lease, after which the ownership of the cottages returned to the hotel. During their individual ownership, these guests also received discounts on their meals and maid service. Presently, most of the original cottage names that were established by the original owners/builders over 100 years ago are still in use. In the 1930s, William Lewis Moody, Jr. of Galveston, Texas bought the hotel. In 1938, Moody replaced

138-768: A buffer for the protected areas. These areas are in the Jefferson National Forest . In addition, there are privately owned lands managed to maintain their wild character or serve as an environment for study, and land operated by a non-profit organization, the Mountain Lake Conservancy. Among the areas included in the Wilderness Cluster are: The Mountain Lake Wilderness Cluster is located in southwestern Virginia, near Pembroke, Virginia. The heart of

184-644: A fictional mountain retreat in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York . Like Kellerman's, the real Mountain Lake Hotel Resort also offers many indoor and outdoor activities for guests such as games like table tennis and billiards, water activities like paddle boating, canoeing, and fishing, and dry activities like mountain biking and hiking. The other site was the 1927 Lake Lure Inn located in Lake Lure, North Carolina . In addition to

230-574: A pond status, and remained mostly or completely dry until refilling in 2020. During this time, the remains of Samuel Ira Felder were discovered in the bottom of the lake. He drowned in July 1921 when he fell overboard while canoeing with friends. Mountain Lake Hotel was the site for much of the on-location filming of the 1987 hit movie Dirty Dancing which starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey . The Stone Lodge stood in for "Kellerman's Resort",

276-540: A project that has been ongoing since 1988. MLBS was the summer home of American author Edna Henry Lee Turpin (1867–1952). The Mountain Lake Conservancy (formerly known as 'Wilderness Conservancy at Mountain Lake') is a non-profit organization founded to help manage and protect the 2,600 acres (11 km ) of Mountain Lake property around Mountain Lake Hotel, and to provide environmental and cultural education for

322-661: A severe cold wave in January 1985, Mountain Lake set the statewide record low for Virginia: −30 °F (−34 °C). Salt Pond had been frequented throughout the early part of the 19th century and prior, then in March 1856, Henley Chapman incorporated the Mountain Lake Co. to provide accommodations and entertainment for its visitors. Soon afterward, a wooden hotel and a saw mill were built. Stagecoach travelers from Christiansburg, Virginia and Union, West Virginia were

368-758: Is a freshwater lake located in Giles County near Newport, Virginia in the United States . Along with Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp , it is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia . It was originally known as Salt Pond, as it was where cattle were given salt. The area is within the Mountain Lake Wilderness Cluster . Mountain Lake typically covers about 50 acres (200,000 m ), and its level

414-618: Is bisected by the Eastern Continental Divide and has about 17 miles (27 km) of hiking trails, including 5 miles (8 km) of the Appalachian Trail . The area is part of the Ridge and Valley System of mountains. The intersection of Potts Mountain and Salt Pond Mountain create a plateau like area. Piney ridge runs along the northeast side of the wilderness and Little Mountain on the northwest. The area

460-853: Is now best used by high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles, hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riders. The Appalachian Trail and the Allegheny Trail pass through the cluster. Access to the Appalachian Trail is gained at road crossings in Johns Creek Road (Va 632), Mountain Lake Road (Va 613), and Big Stony Creek Rd (Va 635). There are no road crossing of the Allegheny Trail, but it can be reached by parking on North Fork Mountain Road (Va 613), then hiking along

506-685: Is on Route 700, 3 miles (5 km) north of Mountain Lake. The area has a rich variety of wildlife; 43 species of mammals and over 70 species of birds include substantial populations of wild turkey, muskrat, beaver and gray fox. In addition small populations of least shrew, meadow jumping mouse, long-tailed weasel, striped skunk and the harvest mouse have been found. Endangered species of salamander may exist here. Bird populations include red crossbill, winter wren, veery, black-capped chickadee, Blackburnian warbler, rosebreasted grosbeak, and cerulean warblers; birds found in high_elevations and deep-woods. Waters flowing south into Johns Creek provide habitat for

SECTION 10

#1732779797320

552-764: Is on the Continental Divide; streams on the west side drain into Johns Creek, part of the James River watershed that flows into the Atlantic; and streams on the south east flow into the New River and onto the Gulf of Mexico. Johns Creek once drained into the New River watershed, but millions of years ago the James River watershed expanded, capturing Johns Creek. Rockcrops at White Rocks, War Spur Overlook, Bear Cliffs, and Windrock give "outstanding views" over

598-622: Is open from early May to late November and operated by 1859 Historic Hotels Inc., a hotel management company controlled by the Moody Foundation , an entity separate from the Mary Moody Northen Endowment. In the early 21st century, the lake levels diminished due to a prolonged drought in Southwest Virginia and the geology that makes up the bottom of the lake. In October 2008, the lake receded to

644-504: The Mountain Lake Biological Station that studies distinctive wildlife and ecology of the area. The Mountain Lake Wilderness Cluster contains wildlands under different levels of management. There are wilderness areas protected by Congressional action, inventoried wilderness , areas recognized by Wilderness Society as worthy of protection from timbering and roads, and other forest service land that act as

690-858: The Weeks Act was passed in 1911 for the purchase of lands to create an eastern national forest. In 1937 the Jefferson National Forest was dedicated. The Forest Service has managed the land to minimize the effects of commercial operations, such as logging and mining, that would lead to environmental degradation . Other clusters of the Wilderness Society's "Mountain Treasures" in the Jefferson National Forest (north to south): Mountain Lake Biological Station Mountain Lake

736-785: The 1920s and the loss of the American Chestnut by the chestnut blight. Besides red spruce and yellow birch, the forest includes eastern hemlock, a tree fast disappearing after infestation by the hemlock wooly adelgid, as well as oak and hickory common in the Virginia section of the Appalachians ., Spring wildflowers include bellwort, bloodroot, columbine, dwarf iris, fire pink, hepatica, jack-in-the-pulpit, lady slipper, ragwort, Solomon’s seal spring beauty, trailing arbutus trillium, trout lily, several varieties of violets, wild germanium, wild ginger and wintergreen. In summer and fall

782-680: The Civil War, the hotel and its properties were sold to General and Mrs. Herman Haupt . Haupt had been head of the United States Military Railroad during the War. During their first year of ownership, though not operating publicly, the Haupts received compensation from some of their guests for the accommodations provided, prompting Giles County to require them to purchase a hotel license. Subsequently, they decided to re-open

828-704: The James spiny mussel, an endangered mollusk, and streams flowing north into Big Stony Creek support the candy darter, a colorful fish considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Bogs contain flexuouse peatmoss, red peatmoss, tawny cotton-grass, and wood grass, plants normally found in areas to the north. Cinnamon ferns, New York ferns and many other wetland plants are found in vernal pools. Southern mountain cranberry, flame azalea, pinxter, mayflower, yellow Clintonia are found along trails. The forests have been altered by logging in

874-689: The Mountain Lake Hotel resort complex, the Mountain Lake Biological Station (MLBS), a field research and teaching station of the Biology Department at the University of Virginia originally established in 1930 is located nearby. The station is also home to the annual Silene Census which occurs in late May/early June and surveys plants in the genus Silene along roadsides surrounding the station,

920-713: The Mountain Lake area was a high valley draining to the southwest. A landslide formed a dam blocking the outlet and creating a lake behind the dam. Native Americans, early users of the area as a reserve for hunting and fishing, did not intensely occupy the area, but lived in surrounding lands. The first known settler in the area was recorded on a tombstone, "Mary Porter killed by Indians in 1742". Forts were constructed for protection from Indian raids, but massacres by Indians continued to devastate many Giles county families from 1774 to 1778. The families of early settlers were mostly independent of one another. They lived off

966-633: The Potts Valley Branch of the Norfolk and Western arrived. Full service to Waiteville started in 1909. Logging began and most of the trees were removed. Inclined rail technology was used to gain access to steeper slopes. The railroad is now gone and the tracks have been removed, but a remnant of the rail line can be explored by bike or foot on the Potts Mountain Rail Trail. In order to create watershed protection,

SECTION 20

#1732779797320

1012-643: The area is Mountain Lake , the only natural body of water in western Virginia. The original route to Mountain Lake was a turnpike completed in 1859 that followed the present VA 700 to the lake. The turnpike continued past the lake, along present VA 613 , on the western side of Salt Pond Mountain , crossed Potts Mountain dropping down into the Big Stony Creek watershed, continued to cross over Peters Mountain , passed by Salt Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and finally ended at Union, West Virginia. From there stage coaches took travelers to various springs in

1058-770: The area. Mountain Lake Wilderness Cluster The Mountain Lake Wilderness Cluster is a region recognized by The Wilderness Society for its unique waterfalls, vistas, trout stream and wildlife habitat. The heart of the region is the Mountain Lake Wilderness , the largest wilderness in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests . These public lands are enhanced by the presence of private lands which are preserved to maintain their natural integrity. The region includes

1104-563: The area. Route 700 still serves as a good means to reach the lake. A tour through the cluster is obtained by continuing along Va 613 to the point where it begins to ascend Peters Mountain. At this point, the road, called the Salt Sulphur Turnpike, deteriorates as it ascends Peters Mountain. The present condition of the Peters Mountain section is probably similar to the days when it was traveled by stage. The road

1150-445: The blight. A large number of hemlock trees are threatened by the woolly adelgid that arrived in 2000. Efforts are underway to introduce beetle predators known to feed on the woolly adelgid. The tawny crescent is a butterfly that is considered endangered and has disappeared from much of its former range in the Appalachians. One of the best known populations was at Mountain Lake. It is severely threatened by spraying intended for

1196-648: The control of gypsy moths . Its habitat is not well known, but is considered to prefer steep, dry, sparsely wooded hillsides. The region is in the Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachian Mountains . The province consists of a thick layer of sedimentary rock that has undergone folding and/or faulting to create a series of ridges and valleys. During the sedimentation process fossils were formed leaving evidence of life existing millions of years ago. The fossils can be seen in rock exposures throughout

1242-431: The fissured bedrock bottom is causing the unstable lake levels. The lake is estimated to be about 6,000 years old, and geologists believe it must have been formed by rock slides and damming. Cold underground springs feed the lake and rarely allow the temperature to rise above 70 °F (21 °C) on the surface and 46 °F (8 °C) fifty feet (15 m) below the surface. Because of narrow channels and openings in

1288-501: The flower display turns to black-eyed susans, boneset, goldenrods, grass of parnassus, great blue lobelia, Indian pipe, joe pye weed, milkweed, pokeweed, stiff gentian, and jewel weed. In addition there are flowering shrubs such as flame azalea, blue berry, dogwood, redbud, service berry and rhododendron. Mountain Lake Wilderness ranges in elevation from about 2,200 feet (670 m) to over 4,000 feet (1,200 m). The area

1334-628: The home to more salamander species than anywhere else in the world. The area's diverse forests and freshwater ecosystems provide a home to these reptiles that have become adapted to cool highlands. Almost half of all these species are listed as threatened or endangered. In the early 20th century the forest was dominated by chestnut trees to the extent that the forest was characterized as "oak-chestnut", but by 1930 most of these trees had been infected by chestnut blight . The root system of blight-killed trees still produces sprouts but they do not get much larger than an inch in diameter before succumbing to

1380-417: The hotel and surrounding land as she had always known it, without overbuilding and, particularly, without significantly changing the resort or upsetting the delicate ecology of the beautiful surrounding land. For most of its life as a resort, Mountain Lake Hotel was open from late spring through early fall, however, shortly after the establishment of the trust, the resort began operating year-round. Currently, it

1426-414: The hotel to the general public. Due to the resulting popularity of the hotel in this first season, several additions to the hotel were required to meet the increasing demand for more accommodations. During the days of primary travel by railroad, guests of the resort exited the train at either Pembroke or Eggleston and were met by horse-drawn carriages, which transported them up the dirt Doe Creek Road to

Mountain Lake Wilderness - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-435: The lake bottom, the level has a history of changing dramatically depending on the water flow through these channels. It is more than 100 feet (30 m) deep when full. Since 2002 it has been subject to dry-season level drops of as much as 15 feet (4.6 m). The last such level fluctuations occurred between 1751 and 1804 as historical accounts give widely different accounts of the lake size. From 2008 to 2020, Mountain Lake

1518-467: The lake bottom. The lake is now believed to reach its lowest points on a roughly 400-year cycle. Close to the lake is one of Virginia's few virgin forests, including a rare virgin spruce bog—Mann's Bog—with an unusual array of northern disjunct species. The lake drains into Little Stoney Creek, which passes over a spectacular waterfall known as The Cascades before reaching the New River . During

1564-414: The lake had begun to refill during a wet spring of 2020, and the lake had refilled to about a third full by July 14. During the lake's most recent dry period, researchers had examined the area's geology and concluded that the lake existed on a natural rise-and-fall cycle. During dry periods, accumulated sediment is believed to move through a natural plumbing system consisting of the aforementioned openings in

1610-545: The lake. He observed that trees and shrubs were seen at considerable depth, attesting to the large fluctuations in lake level. Historically the lake has filled and emptied to as low as 20% of its full size. A second study in 1930 observed that the lake is fed mainly by springs rather than surface input. Later studies surmised that the fluctuations in level were due to a competition between leakage and drought. The low 5:1 watershed-area-to-lake-area would create low inflow compared to outflow in dry spells. Millions of years ago,

1656-547: The land weaving their clothes and using wooden plowshares for crops. Salt and iron could not be had in the backwoods, so families gathered furs and ginseng to carry by horse to town to exchange for salt and iron. At the close of the Indian Wars in 1794, the country filled rapidly. People built houses, opened farms and roads, elected officers and conducted a civil government without fear of Indian raids. Settlers continued to engage in small scale agriculture until 1892 when

1702-460: The mountains. Mountain Lake has been referred to as "The Silver Gem of the Alleghenies". Many modes of formation have been suggested for the lake. Among the possibilities are the blocking of a stream by talus or slide-rock, a glacial cirque, a depression formed volcanic activity or the result of a meteoric impact. Recent studies have shown that a stream flowing from the Mountain Lake basin

1748-638: The old turnpike to reach the trail where it passes along the ridge of Peters Mountain. There are 18 trails on the land managed by the Mountain Lake Conservancy. A map of trails and a $ 5 annual permit can be obtained at the Mountain Lake Lodge. Other roads and trails in the area are shown on National Geographic Trail Map 788. The area contains forested ridges, dominated by oaks and other hardwoods, and cove forests on sheltered slopes, hollows and along stream valleys. These forests provide good habitat for salamanders. The Appalachian Mountains are

1794-580: The primary customers in the days before the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (a predecessor of the Norfolk and Western Railway ) was built nearby in the late 1850s. Following the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain in 1864, during the American Civil War (1861–1865), Union General George Crook marched his troops over to the present day town of Union, WV, via Salt Pond Mountain. Then, in 1869, following

1840-562: The resort. The current primary paved route up the Mountain, SR 700 , was built later, over a different route than the old dirt road. Giles County attorney Gordon Porterfield managed the property briefly before turning it over to his son Gilbert Porterfield , who managed the resort for 25 years. During Gilbert Porterfield's tenure managing the resort, its current reputation for fine cuisine was established. Also during this time, individuals were allowed to build their own cottages. They received

1886-434: The southern Appalachians—exists has been the source of much speculation. Recent scientific studies indicate that an unusual combination of natural processes created the lake, which is maintained by a fissure at the bottom that provides an outlet for both sediment and water and prevents the lake from otherwise simply becoming a bog . Replenishment of the water lost depends on rain levels, and apparent washing-out of sediment from

Mountain Lake Wilderness - Misplaced Pages Continue

1932-504: The western side of the wilderness, state route 635 passes along a section to the northwest, and SR 632 runs parallel to the wilderness on the southeast, offset by about 0.5 mile. There are eight trails in the area: The War Spur overlook, with "outstanding views of the surrounding mountains" that are covered with eastern hardwood forests, is reached by the War Spur and Chestnut Trail loop. The trailhead for this 2.5-mile (4.0 km) hike

1978-524: The wooden hotel with the current structure, built using stone native to the surrounding land. Moody's daughter, Mrs. Mary Moody Northen , owned the hotel until her death in 1986, following which the trustees of her estate established a foundation known as the Mary Moody Northen Endowment , which presently maintains and operates the resort. The foundation was specifically established according to Mrs. Northen's final wishes to maintain

2024-410: Was blocked creating a lake. The lake is unique with its geology , hydrology , possession of a fault and colluvium , as well as high aquatic species diversity . This combination of features is possessed by few if any other lakes in the world. The first recorded sighting of Mountain Lake by a westerner was by Christopher Gist in 1751. In 1884 W. B. Rogers conducted the first geological study of

2070-594: Was largely constant at an elevation of 3,875 feet (1,181 m) during the 19th and 20th centuries. The first known written evidence of the lake was by Christopher Gist of the Ohio Land Surveying Company, in 1751. It subsequently became known as Salt Pond. Natural lakes are common well to the north, where the Appalachian Range was subject to geologically recent glacial activity. But the basis on which this lake—the only natural one in

2116-411: Was nothing more than a reddish-brown pit, only partially filled with water. The lake's water levels had fluctuated dramatically over the previous 20 years. It first dropped in 1999, and returned to its normal levels in 2003. In 2006, it dropped again, and emptied completely for several days, leaving behind dead and rotting fish. From 2008 to 2012, it was mostly empty. However, resort employees noticed that

#319680