CHEAT MOUNTAIN CLUB

Landscape

The Cheat Mountain Club is perched in the “the attic of the forest.” We are in a sub-alpine, red spruce ecosystem that supports one of the most biologically significant areas in the Appalachians.

The red spruce have a story to tell….
Over 10,000 years ago The Ice Age drove northern vegetation down from Canada. Boles of spruce and hemlock sprung up in West Virginia. When the cold and ice retreated, the red spruce were quickly crowded out by local flora — with the exception of a few high elevation refuges like Cheat Mountain.

Cheat Mountain delineates the Eastern Continental Divide: the Shenandoah, and rivers to the east, drain into the Chesapeake Bay; while the Shavers Fork of the Cheat, and rivers to the west, empty into the Gulf of Mexico.

Our unique ecosystem is home to rare, and in some cases endangered, flora and fauna including the Blister Swamp balsam fir, West Virginia flying squirrel, northern goshawk, and Cheat Mountain Salamander.

We were surprised to learn that aspen trees were once abundant on Cheat Mountain, but lost due to intensive logging in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the Forest Service, along non-profit organizations and CMC volunteers, are bringing them back.

A ramble along the Green Trail or Yellow Trail in the spring and summer is a treat for not just naturalists, but for photographers and painters. The kaleidoscope of colors and myriad textures along the paths are a show! Look for fiddlehead ferns, bee-balm, sunflowers, and the beguiling turks cap. Fall is an event for leaf-peepers. And even winter shows off with bright red berries on snow covered branches.

Conservation

Cheat Mountain was at the top of the list for The Nature Conservancy's 1990's campaign "Saving the Last Great Places." The Cheat Mountain Club donated 125 acres surrounding the Club to The Nature Conservancy to preserve and protect a vanishing wilderness.

In 2022 The Cheat Mountain Club established a 10-year plan to re-establish native trees and plants on the property. Motivated by the loss of a number of ancient sugar maples that were used by the Club in the late 19th century for maple syrup, we began replanting maples, spruce, balsam fir, black cherry, serviceberries and aspen. Each spring and fall volunteers return with shovels and gloves to continue this important work.