Pisgah View State Park comes into focus
File photo
Buncombe County’s first state park, near the eastern gateway to Haywood County, remains on track for a 2025 opening after the final in-person public input session for master planning concluded at Upper Hominy Fire and Rescue Department on Aug. 1.
“I think all our parks are related back to the mission of the division, which is conservation, recreation and education,” said Brian L. Strong, director of the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation. “This is a new area for us. We’re adjacent to a growing population with Asheville and what we want to do is provide opportunities not only to conserve these properties, but to give people an opportunity to recreate, give them an opportunity to learn more about all the aspects of this mountain region.”
Long before Gov. Roy Cooper signed legislation authorizing the $18.2 million purchase of the land in 2019, the 1,600 acres that now constitute Pisgah View State Park had been owned by the Cogburn and Davis families since 1790. In 1941, it was opened to the public as the Pisgah View Ranch campground with cabins, horse stables, lodges and a swimming pool, all within sight of towering Mount Pisgah to the south.
But before that, the land was for millenia home to Native Americans and boasts connections to five federally recognized tribal entities, including the Eastern and the United Keetoowah bands of Cherokee Indians as well as the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek) and Catawba Indian nations.
The land for the park, acquired between 2019 and 2021, consists of three discrete sections that connect it to more than 100,000 acres of protected lands including the Blue Ridge Parkway and Pisgah National Forest.
The massive central bloc is located primarily in far southwestern Buncombe County and is accessible from Pisgah View Ranch Road, but it does dip into Haywood County in two remote spots. As the crow flies, this main section is only about a mile to the east of the Springdale Resort near Cruso.
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To the southeast, a smaller satellite section of the park called the South Frontcountry is accessible by South Brooks Cove Road.
To the northwest, another small satellite section of the park spills across the Haywood County line and offers a tantalizing possibility — it’s less than five miles from the lauded 450-acre mountain biking park owned by the Town of Canton, Chestnut Mountain. Connecting the two would be a heavy lift, but it would be welcomed.
“The idea of connecting the two parks has always been discussed and is something we’ll continue to explore, however based on our budget and the needs of our community it’s not on the front burner,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers. “As the state continues to realize the benefits of growing the outdoor economy it would benefit us to continue to explore this exciting possibility.”
The newest state park in the state is projected to open in 2025. North Carolina State Parks photo
There are also plenty of other plans in the works for Pisgah View proper, including a long-rage focus on accessibility and sustainability.
“I always tell people, these are long processes,” Strong said. “Don’t expect this to happen overnight. You know, Gorges State Park, which was [established] in 1999, they’re probably to the point where they’ve got all their infrastructure in place — picnic and equestrian use, camping, a visitor’s center. It took them 25 years to get to that point.”
With the culmination of the public input process, which took more than a year, a master plan spearheaded by Asheville-based Equinox Environmental will identify recreational, educational and conservation opportunities.
“It’s going to take a little bit to compile the comments, to finalize the drawings and then there’ll be a final plan that not only talks about what goes where but will also come up with some initial cost estimates and then looking at prioritization,” said Strong. “Mount Mitchell State Park is over 110 years old, and these parks are going be here forever. We want to know this is what people want.”
Judging from the comments from public input sessions and the reactions of people in the area, this park is exactly what they want.
“Initially, there was actually concern for many of us born and raised here or living here for many, many years that it would become a [housing or commercial] development,” said Karen Jackson, who lives nearby the park. “There was a great deal of concern, so for many people, there was a huge sense of relief that the land was going to be preserved and conserved and that it would be done in a sustainable manner. Most of the neighbors that I’ve talked to, and people I know, are extremely excited about having this so close.”
Jackson is the president of Friends of Pisgah View State Park, a nonprofit organization that’s been up and running for several years now with the mission of identifying, protecting and preserving the unique natural resources of the park, sharing the cultural and historic legacy of the land and promoting educational and recreational opportunities while also supporting accessibility and inclusivity.
The existence of a “friends of” nonprofit is always a good sign. These nonprofits can fundraise in ways the parks can’t. Friends of the Smokies, for example, has raised more than $75 million to support the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since 1993 — in the face of decades of inattentiveness from Congress.
These groups can also recruit, train and coordinate volunteers to assist with projects like trail maintenance. Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, founded in 1988, boasts thousands of members in multiple states and hundreds of volunteers spread across 11 chapters.
Friends of Pisgah View is the first such group, Jackson said, that became established before its beneficiary park had even opened, and they’re already planning ways to contribute to the park’s mission, especially as it relates to the indigenous components of its history. She said plans are in the works for a storyteller’s series, hopefully featuring Cherokee orators.
“In their own words, from their own mouths, we want them to give the heritage and the culture,” said Jackson. “Education is going to be a really big thing. We want to educate, especially in the school systems, and be able to give every child the opportunity to get out to the park.”
And in a time when the oft-overwhelming connections of the digital world allow the ceaseless doom-and-gloom of the news cycle to grow more invasive each day, Pisgah View has the opportunity to provide some good news, according to Strong.
“The more opportunity that people have to interact, to get outdoors for their physical health, for their spiritual health, for their mental health, all those components,” he said, “more opportunity to connect with the outdoors is exciting to me.”
You can help
Years in the making, North Carolina’s newest state park is finally coming into focus after gathering substantial public input that will inform a forthcoming master plan. But there’s always going to be small odds and ends that lack funding and plenty of volunteer work needed to make Pisgah View State Park all that stakeholders envision before its projected opening in 2025.
You can stay informed about the project, donate or volunteer by teaming up with a local nonprofit, Friends of Pisgah View. Become a member (free) today to ensure your contributions will help shape the future of the park for the decades to come.
Visit friendsofpisgahviewsp.org to learn more.
