PRICE REDUCED!
Four Fences Mountain Vista Retreat is an exceptional 199 +/- acre property offering breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and valleys and an outstanding opportunity to create your own private West Virginia retreat. Nestled between Little Mountain and Schoolhouse Ridge, the property is enhanced by Wiseman Branch, a beautiful, clear mountain stream that flows along its edge.
With its generous acreage and extensive network of roads and trails, the property offers excellent opportunities for ATV riding, horseback riding, hiking, wildlife viewing, birdwatching, and simply enjoying the natural beauty of the mountains. Numerous potential home and cabin sites provide options for a secluded residence, weekend getaway, hunting retreat, or recreational compound.
Beyond its recreational appeal, the property also offers agricultural possibilities and valuable timber resources, adding to its versatility and long-term potential. Whether you envision a peaceful mountain homestead, private family retreat, recreational property, or investment in West Virginia land, Four Fences Mountain Vista Retreat is a rare opportunity to own a remarkable piece of Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.
NOTE: A Foxfire Realty agent must accompany all showings, without exception. No drive-bys permitted.
HIGHLIGHTS
• 199 +/- acres of fields and forest combine to create a recreational and farming property
• Bold running, crystal clear mountain spring
• Interesting moss covered rock outcrops and rock cliffs
• Everything in place to create a permaculture and experience its rewarding lifestyle
• Wiseman Branch borders the property
• Surrounded by timber tracts and farms in a nice rural neighborhood
• Miles of forest trails accessing nearly every part of the property
• Superior access adjoining paved state road on school bus route, FedEx delivery
• Dark skies with little or no light pollution for star and planet gazing
• Located in peaceful Monroe County just 15 minutes to Union, the county seat
• Some very ancient “Heritage” trees scattered about the forest and fields
• Excellent timber species include fragrant cedars, beautiful oaks, black walnuts, poplars, maples and hickories
• All mineral rights the seller owns will convey
• Electricity and phone available nearby
• Wildlife is abundant with several fur bearing species represented
• Winged wildlife includes hawks, owls, ravens, and Neotropical songbirds
• Diverse topography of forest, field, wetland, meadows create an interesting natural setting
• Near Fountain Springs Golf Course
RECREATION and HUNTING
What a hunters paradise or tremendous recreational property! Being surrounded by rugged mountains with tremendous wildlife food sources lends to the hunters dream property with abundant deer, turkey, bear and other wildlife. The spring fed stream and the abundance of hickory, white oak, and red oak create a habitat for the large and small game. The abundance of a year-round water source, the stream with its surrounding aquatic plant life, creates a water supported community with a wide variety of wildlife. Some of the margin of the creek support the aquatic food web which provides shelter for wildlife and stabilizes the shores.
There are many animals that live in the water and around the edge of the spring fed creek including raccoons, possums, Blue Heron, turtles, salamanders, crayfish, bullfrog, Eagles, Hawks and Red Wing Birds. The property has a mixture of hardwood species. The adverse tree species coupled with the abundant water supply from the creek, create a perfect wildlife habitat. The edge effect created between the creeks, hollows, ridges, rock out cropping and forest is a textbook habitat, benefiting all of the resident wildlife. Whitetail deer, black bear, wild turkey, squirrels, rabbits, bobcats, raccoons, fox, many species of song birds, and raptors makeup the resident wildlife population. The hardwood forest provides an essential nutrients source and produces tons of hardwood mask including acorns, hickory nuts, beechnut, and black walnut. Soft mass includes sage horn, black cherry, tulip, poplar seeds, maple seeds, autumn olive berries, and blackberries.
WATER
Most assuredly, this property is blessed with an abundance of crystal clear water. There is a proven year-round spring.
Wiseman Branch, a dashed blue-line stream, runs along the edge of the property and contributes great aquatic value to the property. This stream is fed by 25 ephemeral streams on the property and by hundreds more ephemeral streams on surrounding properties further up the hollow. This stream is full of interesting rock, small waterfalls and is particularly active during rain events and early spring snow melt.
MINERAL RESOURCES
All rights the owner has will convey with the property.
BOUNDARIES AND SURVEY
A new survey is being performed. The property is being sold by the boundary and not by the acre.
UTILITIES
Water: A well could be drilled
Sewer: A septic system could be installed
Electricity: Nearby
Telephone: Nearby
Internet: May be possible through landline or satellite providers such as Starlink and HughesNet
Cellphone Coverage: Great on the ridges and can be spotty in the deeper hollow
ACCESS/FRONTAGE
The property is accessed over a farm road which will be surveyed and deeded to the new owner.
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.
PROPERTY TYPE/USE SUMMARY
This property is currently forestland.
DEED INFORMATION
Deed Information: Part of DB 300 Pg. 106
Monroe County, West Virginia
Acreage: Estimated 199 acres +/-, to be surveyed
Real Estate Tax ID/Acreage/Taxes:
Monroe County (32), West Virginia
Springfield District (5)
Tax Map 32, Part of Parcel 49
Tax Map 33 Parcel 3
Tax Class 2
2026 Real Estate Taxes – for whole parcel 32/49 = $585.66 (The property is a part of this parcel)
2026 Real Estate Taxes – Tax Map 33, parcel 3 = $3.20
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Monroe County School District
Public Elementary and Middle Schools:
Mountain View Elementary and Middle School
Peterstown Elementary and Middle School
Public High School:
James Monroe High School
FOREST/TIMBER RESOURCES
The property’s timber resource is well positioned for current timber income as well as value appreciation over the coming decades. With an attractive species mix, adequate stocking levels, and favorable diameter class distribution, the timber amenity represents a strong component of value to the investor.
The forest resource is composed of quality Appalachian hardwoods. This well managed timber resource can provide a great deal of flexibility to the next ownership in terms of potential harvest revenue and can be managed to provide cash flow opportunities to offset holding cost and long-term asset appreciation. Capital Timber Value of the timber and pulpwood has not been determined at this time.
Species composition:
The forest’s predominately well-drained upland terrain has led to a resource dominated by hardwood species. Overall, the species composition is highly desirable and favors Appalachian hardwood types, consisting primarily of:
•Black Walnut
•Sugar Maple
•Poplar/Basswood
•Red Oak Group
•White Oak/Chestnut Oak
•Soft Maple
•Hickory
•Black Walnut
•A host of associate species (ash birch, sourwood, black gum, beech)
Stocking, Stem Quality, and Forest Structure:
Forest-wide, most stands are fully stocked, providing the next ownership with a great deal of flexibility in shaping their own silvicultual legacy. Stem quality forest-wide can be considered excellent with the forest containing an abundant current and future veneer source.
The property’s timber component has been well managed over the years and generally consists of two age classes that have been managed under even-aged silvicultural guidelines. The predominant timber stand contains 40-140 year old stems ranging in size of 10”-30” dbh. Portions of this stand have been thinned several decades ago as prudent forest management called for. More recently, a selective thinning was conducted on approximately 50 acres in order to recover the Eastern Hemlock trees that were dying out due to the attack from the Hemlock Wooly Adegid. During that harvest, some of the hardwood species interspersed in the harvest unit were selectively removed.
Diameters are well represented across the commercial spectrum with a notable mature size class, as well as abundant pole size timber and growing stock. Several “Heritage Trees” are scattered throughout the forest and field edges. These ancient trees, some 200-300 years old, have withstood the test of time, weathering ice, wind, lightning strikes and fire.
The forest is healthy and there are no signs of pest infestations of Gypsy Moth. The Emerald Ash Borer, which has inundated the entire Northeast US, is present and the Ash component will significantly decline over the next decade. The Eastern Hemlock species is under attack by the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid and the remaining hemlock will significantly decline over the coming decade. There have been no forest fires in recent memory. However there is some evidence of decades old forest fires.
The forest floor is home to several types of mushrooms, medicinal plants, wild ginseng, ferns and cool green mosses. One could spend a lifetime getting to know this inviting environ.
SURROUNDING AREA
MONROE COUNTY
The property is located near the charming village of Union, which is the Monroe County seat, and is just a 15 to 20 minute drive. Banking, healthcare facilities, drugstore, grocery, hardware, auto parts and farm supply are readily available in nearby Union and Peterstown. There are no fast food restaurants but there are the local restaurants that are great places to meet friends and enjoy