Over the last 160 years, the identity of the peak has changed, changed, changed and changed again.
While you may think you know West Virginia’s Cheat Mountain, thanks to the popular ski resort at its southern summit, there are stories to this mountain that go far beyond sliding down its snow-covered flanks.
1. It was a Civil War battle site. Chosen for its key positioning at the entrance to the Tygart Valley, Cheat Mountain Summit, or Fort Milroy as it was also known, became the Union Army’s highest known fortification during the Civil War (4,000-plus feet). In fact, Confederate General Robert E. Lee once laid siege upon the fort in an unsuccessful attempt to gain control of what was then western Virginia. The fort’s significance was short-lived, however, when a harsh winter in 1861, perhaps a foreshadowing nod to the mountain’s future potential, claimed numerous Union soldiers and livestock. The fort was abandoned in early 1862.
2. Next up: Logger’s heaven. As the Civil War ended, resource demands of a growing nation and its accompanying infrastructure soon created new allure to the hills surrounding Cheat. Industrious men and women of the late 1800s set their sights on the expansive wealth of timber on the flanks of the mountain. Grueling physical labor and complex rail solutions brought tracks of the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company to the summit of Cheat on January 30th, 1901. The mountain was, officially, open for extraction, and for nearly 30 years it would be logged extensively, as lumber from Cheat, Spruce and White Top was brought down the mountain and shipped to market.
3. The drive for coal. When Western Maryland, an emerging rail company, purchased the lines that navigated to the summit of Cheat in 1928, their sights were set not on what was above ground, but what was below. Coal soon surpassed timber as the main export from the ridges of Cheat during the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. As America’s train era began to slow, so did demand for coal. A new chapter in Cheat’s history was about to begin.
4. Snowshoe Mountain Resort. The latest chapter in Cheat Mountain’s history can be attributed to Dr. Tom Brigham, a dentist from North Carolina, who envisioned a ski resort while gazing upon the barren summit in 1972. Adding economic drivers to a struggling Appalachia and providing top-notch winter recreation for folks throughout the southeast, Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort has ushered millions of visitors to the flanks of Cheat Mountain since first opening its slopes in 1974.
So, next time you’re admiring the view from Snowshoe’s Top of the World, remember, that while a lot has changed in the Blue Ridge Mountains over the last 160 years, our allure for Cheat Mountain, the summit you’ll be standing on, remains as strong as ever, if in different ways over the decades.
The story above is from our January/February 2020 issue.
