Broad Branch and Gouge Cove – Adding to SAHC’s Nature Preserves

Broad Branch

Near the Buladean community of Mitchell County, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy purchased 17 acres, expanding a 97-acre preserve that we purchased previously. Adding to SAHC’s existing nature preserves helps strengthen conservation of habitat, viewsheds, and water sources.

Several tributaries of Broad Branch cross this steep, forested property, which borders Pisgah National Forest and other SAHC-conserved land. With elevations up to 4,100 ft., SAHC’s Broad Branch preserve is also highly visible from the Appalachian Trail. Preserving water quality in Broad Branch is particularly important, as the stream has been designated trout waters by the NC Division of Water Resources. SAHC will manage the property as a nature preserve to protect the conservation values.

Former landowner Judy Moorhouse contacted SAHC because she wanted to sell the property for permanent conservation.

“The Roan Mountain property is a heavily wooded parcel of land with gentle hills, impressive boulders and a very significant stream running through it,” says Judy. “It is a place to enjoy all the best nature has to offer. Through SAHC’s work it is now protected for everyone.”

“When I visited the land with Judy, I realized how meaningful this land was to her and her late husband,” adds Land Protection Director Michelle. “It was an honor to share time on the mountain with her. Adding this tract to our existing preserve expands protection of native forest and pristine waterways.”

Gouge Cove (Chestnut Ridge)

We also purchased 24 acres below the brow of Roan High Bluff, at the gateway to an existing 370-acre nature preserve that Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has assembled over the years. This preserve adjoins Pisgah National Forest.

The new 24-acre addition to SAHC’s preserve contains over 2,500 linear feet of stream including tributaries to Gouges Creek, which is known for trout fishing. Of ecological note, the tract is located within the Roan Mountain Massif Natural Heritage Natural Area and Grandfather Unaka Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area. Securing this lower-elevation gateway to SAHC’s existing preserve will prevent it from being developed in the future, helping to maintain protection for the habitat and water resources further up the mountain.

“This tract at Gouge Cove/Chestnut Ridge and the Broad Branch property that SAHC purchased this year are both in the heart of the Highlands of Roan,” says Roan Stewardship Director Marquette Crockett. “Although on opposite sides of the Roan Massif, both properties are really integral to the landscape, and it is wonderful to see these core areas of the Roan Highlands further protected. Historically, both communities were also once closely tied to the Cloudland Hotel for their livelihood. People who worked and provided services to the hotel, and guests used horses, buggies and mules to traverse long forgotten soil roads up the mountain.”

The purchase of the 24 acres between Wolf Ridge and Chestnut Ridge completes the preservation of land which had been purchased by Paul and Marie Bruchon in the 1960s and then passed to their six children. The entire family had enjoyed camping and visiting the property for many years. Most of the property owned by the Bruchon family was purchased by SAHC in 2003, and this year we are thrilled to continue conserving land at the head of Gouge Cove.

“Our parents loved that land,” remembers former landowner Michelle Bruchon Grossman. “Our father was born in France near the edge of the Swiss Alps, and he was an outdoorsman all his life. Both our parents both loved going up there. I remember my mother walking along the property and pointing out all kinds of plants, and gathering apples from a heritage orchard. Eventually, they were no longer able to visit and enjoy the property, and they passed it down to us. My siblings and our children have loved camping on the land over the years; the kids will treasure those memories forever. For my portion, I had taken the lower section of the property, which included the stream, and I hung onto my portion for a longer time. I loved the way the sun shone through old majestic trees. In August the wildflowers are unbelievable; it’s just a beautiful, beautiful piece of land – it reminded me of the line about the “forest primeval” in the poem ‘Evangeline’. However, I reached a point where I can’t climb the mountain like I used to, and my siblings had long ago sold their portion of the land to SAHC. I’m just very grateful that it is in the conservancy’s hands and will not be developed in the future. SAHC will take care of it and preserve it. Land Protection Director Michelle Pugliese was just amazing. It was a pleasure to work with her, and I appreciate her sensitivity, thoroughness, and kind and professional demeanor throughout the process.”

“My son loved going camping up there, and he would have inherited it,” she adds. “He passed away in the 1990s, at just 19 years old. His name was John Quinn – and I’d like the story of conserving this land to honor his memory.”

Historic Perspective: Allen Cook

Allen Cook, whose Burleson ancestors once owned about 1,000 acres at the head of Gouge Cove, continues to connect to the land through SAHC.

“When I’m sitting up on Chestnut Ridge or hiking the mountain, I imagine what it was like here a hundred years ago, what it was like when my ancestors walked here. You can see the old chestnut stump on Chestnut Ridge. When the blight came through, they salvaged what was still standing, rather than just lose all the trees to rot. There used to be a lot of chestnut trees there, hence the name, and there’s an abundance of wildlife. I like to imagine what the time was like. The land holds my family heritage; you love it and want to see it preserved and protected and treated right.”

Cook continues to help care for adjacent lands that his family once owned, and that sense of connection is important to him. A few years ago, he began researching stories which had been handed down through the family, including renditions of moonshiners and violence in the otherwise idyllic mountain coves. He has since published two books, In the Shadow of the Roan, Stories from Days Long Past and Moonshine, Murder & Mountaineers: the Wildest County in America, available at a variety of local booksellers.