Archive for category: About the Area

One of the most popular things to do in West Jefferson NC is to visit the the Ashe County Cheese Factory.  The factory is located in downtown and is open year round from 8:30 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday.  It is also one of the oldest cheese factory’s in the Carolina’s.

If you enjoy playing golf with fantastic views then Mountain Aire Golf Course in NC is perfect for you.  It is a public 18 hole golf course with reasonable rates.  One of the signature holes on the golf course is the sixth hole which drops in elevation by 200 feet from tee to the green.  This golf course also sells West Jefferson NC Real Estate.

Another great golf course in the area is Jefferson Landing Country Club.  This course also offers tremendous Blue Ridge Mountain Views as backdrops for nearly every hole on the course.

On a hot summer day the New River in Ashe County NC is the place to be.  The New River NC has several activities you can do like fishing, canoeing, swimming, tubing and kayaking.  The New River is known to be one of the oldest rivers in the country as well.

The downtown shopping centers is also a great place to stop by.  It is one of the National Historic Districts.  It has a variety of stores which includes arts and antiques, to unique crafts and one-of-a-kind specialty stores, fine restaurants and unique lodging choices.  It also has a farmers market that is grown and produced only in Ashe County NC.  The downtown West Jefferson Art District is also home to the Gallery Crawls which take place during the summer months here in the NC Mountains.

All of these wonderful things contribute to our community here in Ashe County and the NC High Country, making this a wonderful place to live.  If you would like more information in regards to the area or NC Mountain Real Estate in general please feel free to contact Josh Johnson with Regency Properties at any time.  You can reach him by simply sending him an email via this website, www.AsheMountainProperties.com, or by calling him on his cell at 828-406-4495.  He will be more than happy to assist you with all of your NC Mountain Real Estate needs. 

In a time when Ashe County is faced with the possible closure of Mt. Jefferson State Natural Area as a recreation venue, the opportunity to open another mountain to the public was completed in January with the transfer of Pond Mountain to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC).

With the mountains opening this August, Pond Mountain will serve the area as both a nature conservancy for protected species and game land for hunters. It will also offer trails for horseback riding and hiking as well as a primitive campground.

The four-year long effort to purchase the private lands and transform the mountain into a public resource was completed in five phases by the Blue Ridge Conservancy.

A Boone based nonprofit land trust the conservancys interest in the mountain was three-fold before it was eventually transferred to the state wildlife commission agency.

One of the reasons was Pond Mountains scenic value, Executive Director Walter Clark said. It is situated right in the middle of four other mountains (Mt. Rogers, Whitetop, Threetop and Mt. Jefferson).

Another reason was for the wildlife habitat because its adjacent to the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee and it would be an increase in an already large area available for wildlife.

Conservancy officials realized the importance of protecting the mountains water quality as it is the head waters for Big Horse, Little Horse and Big Laurel tributaries that eventually flow into the North Fork of the New River, Clark said.

Land conservation and water quality go hand in hand, Clark said.

Previously owned by Dale Shepherd, the conservancy began purchasing the property after it was handed down to his heirs.

Clark explained the first stage of purchasing was completed with the contribution of a private donor in the amount of $1.3 million. Other phases were also completed in part through two state trust funds (CLEAR Water Management and National Heritage trust funds).

In these days of tight economic resources conserving land is challenging it takes time, creativity and the melding together of a variety of funding resources, Clark said in a press release. We hope its the first step in protecting surrounding properties, ultimately preserving thousands of acres in the northwestern corner of North Carolina.

With the paperwork finalized, the state resource commission, NCWRC, is aiming for an Aug. 1 public opening date.

Commission Supervising Wildlife Biologist Gordon Warburton said officials are still trying to establish gates and complete a parking area before it will be truly public accessible.

Unlike a state maintained park, Pond Mountain is a game land and will not be regularly staffed, but instead will be overseen by a group of tract managers based out of the Traphill area.

Although the nearly 1,800 acres of protected land will serve the local habitat as a conservancy, it will also offer local outdoorsmen new hunting grounds that in turn fund future nature conservancy efforts.

The two (hunting and conservation) are very interrelated, Warburton said. Hunting dollars provide money for conservations and is an integral part of our plan.

Hunting on the protected lands, should begin after the mountains opening in August and will be on a permit basis for this year to allow existing Christmas tree operations time to wind down as outlined in the transfer of the land, Clark said.

All seasonal hunts will be done in three-day blocks and information for permits can be found at www.ncwildlife.org under the regulations digest.

After the current stand of trees are harvest near the mountains peak, the conservancy plans on planting high elevation shrubbery for certain species of birds. A wetlands restoration project of the mountains ponds and other water sources should encourage the arrival of new species of frogs and salamanders, said Clark.

Through our work, we will enhance the habitat and existing species (bear and deer) should respond, said Clark. Our goal will be to maintain the current population levels of existing species.

This is an area we have had our eye on for a long time and are excited from a conservation standpoint to be stewards of the land.

Published: 1:37 PM, 02/04/2011
Last updated: 1:37 PM, 02/04/2011

by Jesse Campbell