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Story Ideas for Travel Media
Preserving a high elevation landscape: In March 2002, The Nature Conservancy acquired over 9,000 acres of mountain forest land in Bath County, including 13 miles of the ridgeline of Warm Springs Mountain. The purchase was TNC’s largest ever in Virginia and represents an effort to preserve a rare and rich ecological site, which includes a high elevation montane pine barren of which there are only about 20 in the entire world. Held in trust for perpetuity, the tract is known as the Warm Springs Mountain Preserve, and portions of it are open to visitors or to guided hikes. A land of woods and water: 89% of Bath County’s landscape is covered in forest, more than 60% of that land held publicly by the Warm Springs Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest and Douthat State Park, one of Virginia’s first four state parks. Explore this Allegheny Mountain landscape, untouched by time and still sparsely traveled by tourists. The premier trout waters of the Jackson River and many other pristine mountain streams flow through Bath, and it is also home to one of Virginia’s most beautiful recreation reservoirs, Lake Moomaw, which is held in place by one of the world’s engineering wonders—Gathright Dam. A hiker’s and biker’s paradise: With more than 120 hiking trails, many of them open to mountain biking, Bath County is an outdoor recreation lover’s delight. The forest roads and trails here remain softly visited places of seclusion and quiet. From challenging treks up steep mountainsides like the Cobbler Mountain Trail in Hidden Valley to the more gentle streamside walks like that along Little Back Creek at Blowing Springs, there are hiking and biking opportunities here for all skill levels in an Alleghany Highlands landscape that is still as beautiful as it is wild. |
Photo credit: WG Photography (overlook); Ellen Persinger (farm); Charles Garratt (flower) |
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prings
eternal: Explore the historic mineral springs of Bath
County, and revisit their history from early use by Native Americans
through the resort era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Highlights
to hit include the Jefferson Pools, which are still housed in their
original 18th and 19th century bathhouses, and The Homestead resort,
founded in 1766.