In February of 1991 we became a family of four.
Once we felt the first stirrings of Spring that year we got itchy to begin to explore our piece of property in West Virginia. As I explained in a previous post, prior to the auction, we really hadn’t spent much time looking at and evaluating the parcel of land that we eventually bought. As soon as I felt comfortable traveling with an infant, a 3-½ year old and a dog - we started taking day trips over to check it out.
We were now the proud owners of 52+ acres of primarily wooded property.
Approximately 5 acres of this property is relatively level land which sits on a prominent ridgeline ending in a peninsula of hilltop pointing South. The land naturally drops off at about a 30 degree slope to the West. The view that we could see from the very first visit is of a series of overlapping mountain ranges rolling off to the West.
The Mountain
Every trip over to “the mountain” was an adventure. We brought along our hiking boots, snacks, sunscreen and lots of water. Once we arrived we would just hike around. We were observing topography, taking in the views, identifying what flora & fauna we could, assessing the available flat land and - dreaming. The 5+ acres of the most usable land was filled with thistles, little locust trees, huge ant hills and various grasses. We knew we needed to clear out some livable areas as soon as possible.
About half of our acreage, including the majority of the central part of our lot, showed signs of fire damage. Over time we learned more about this fire event from several country neighbors. As best we can determine, it occurred approximately 5 years before we purchased the land. The fire started in a hunting camp located in the “holler” below our ridge, just outside the corner of our property line. It burned up the hillside, probably fed by thick undergrowth, and it devastated the mature forest. We think that it must have been “fought” to some degree; evidenced by a lot of cut tree stumps and felled trees littering the hillside. These made the already sloped ground very treacherous and difficult to traverse. To this day we have not explored some areas in the center of our property due to terrain and rough, dense vegetation.
By the Summer of 1991 we were coming over and camping out on the property. We purchased a tent that would accommodate all of us: two adults in sleeping bags, our 3-½ year old son in his own sleeping bag, an infant in a portable crib and a dog on his own bed! We bought some tarps and a system of poles and lines to make some shade. A couple of coolers for food and drink and some folding chairs completed the set up! We may have brought our lawn mower from home at first to clear areas for our tent and some walk around space, but we quickly realized that our battle with Mother Nature was going to require heavier equipment.
The Future Fitzwater Friends
We started meeting some of our country neighbors fairly quickly. These were folks who also purchased property at the auction and/or who owned places that had common property lines with the perimeter of the farm acreage. One of those was “Fireman John”. John had been a Batallion Chief in the Arlington County Fire Department. He had been hunting in the area of the Fitzwater Farm for many years already. Several of his fellow Arlington County firefighters, EMS workers and other friends and family of his were now also our country neighbors. To many of these folks, after first introductions were made, we became known as “the Architect and his family.”
John had a hunting cabin that he graciously let us use a few times. He was also now the owner of a piece of property on the Fitzwater Farm that included several outbuildings and a barn. When John found out how much gear we were hauling back and forth for our weekend outings, he offered to let us store it in the barn. This was a great relief. We could come over with just ourselves, food and clothes and then stop at the barn to get our gear on our way out to the property.
Another item that was in the barn that John made available to us was his tractor and a bush hog attachment. This equipment was critical to our success in beating back the brush on our property. With every session of bush hogging we were able to see a little more of the potential of our little piece of “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia”!