Shavers Mountain, is a high and rugged

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

situated in the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

of eastern

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

. It is about long, north to south, and several of its peaks exceed in elevation. Shavers Mountain is notable for being "bookended", at its northern and southern ends, by two exceptional natural areas: the

Otter Creek Wilderness The Otter Creek Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness area located in the Cheat-Potomac Ranger District of Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, USA. The Wilderness sits in a bowl-shaped valley formed by Otter Creek, between McGowan Mountain and ...

and the

Gaudineer Scenic Area The Gaudineer Scenic Area (GSA) is a scenic area and National Natural Landmark in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF). It is situated just north of Gaudineer Knob of Shavers Mountain on the border of Randolph and Pocahontas Counties, West Vir ...

, respectively, both of which preserve small stands of

old growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...

on the mountain.

Geography

Most of Shavers Mountain lies within eastern Randolph County, although along its southern third, its crest forms the boundary between Randolph and

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

Counties. Shavers Mountain is defined to the west by the valley of Shavers Fork and to the east by the valley of Glady Fork, West Fork of Glady Fork and the West Fork Greenbrier River. Shavers Mountain is part of the

Shavers Fork Mountain Complex Shavers Fork Mountain Complex is the name given to the mountains on either side of Shavers Fork in the highlands portions of Randolph County, Pocahontas County, and Tucker County in West Virginia, USA. Much of the land surrounding the river a ...

, which includes Cheat Mountain to the west and Middle Mountain to the east. Shavers Mountain's northern end is in a bend of Dry Fork of

Cheat River The Cheat River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Monongahela River in eastern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the Uni ...

near the town of Gladwin. Its southern end is at U.S. Route 250, south of which the same structural fold continues as Back Allegheny Mountain. The highest point of Shavers Mountain is located just north of

US 250 U.S. Route 250 (US 250) is a route of the United States Numbered Highway System, and is a spur of U.S. Route 50. It currently runs for from Richmond, Virginia to Sandusky, Ohio. It passes through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio. ...

Gaudineer Knob Gaudineer Knob is a mountain summit on the Randolph/ Pocahontas County line in eastern West Virginia, USA. It is the highest elevation (4,449 ft/1,356 m) of Shavers Mountain, a ridge of the Alleghenies, and is located about east of Cheat ...

, which has an elevation of .

History

According to E.C. Wyatt, a local historian who published in ''The Randolph Enterprise'' newspaper in the 1920s, the mountain was named for Peter Shaver, an early settler to the area who was killed by Indians. Wyatt believed that in 1848 his grandfather, Ellis Wyatt, became the first man to build a house on Shavers Mountain. Ellis was a farmer, merchant, civil engineer, surveyor, constable, deputy sheriff, and a miller. He was apparently the first and only man to vote a Democratic ticket in the Dry Fork District in the first election held after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. Indeed, no Democratic ticket had been printed in the District, so one had to be written to accommodate him. In June 1879, Ellis Wyatt became the first postmaster of the town of Alpena, holding the position until 1897. The timber industry in West Virginia grew rapidly towards the end of the 19th century. In the early 1900s, Shavers Mountain was almost completely denuded of trees. For the most part, native trees have been allowed to grow back naturally, with only some non-native

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very close ...

planted on top of the mountain in the 1920s.

Preservation and recreation

Most of Shavers Mountain lies within the

Monongahela National Forest The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally managed land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Regi ...

. The Shavers Mountain Spruce-Hemlock Stand is a

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

red spruce- hemlock stand, partly within the

. (The Otter Creek Wilderness lies in a bowl formed by Shavers Mountain and

McGowan Mountain McGowan is an Irish and Scottish surname. It is an Anglicization of the Irish Mac Gabhann and Scottish surname ''Mac Gobhann''. Belonging to the Uí Echach Cobo, located in modern-day County Down in the east of Ulster, they produced several ...

.) The

, encompassing around

, includes about of virgin red spruce forest. The Shavers Mountain Trail, somewhat strenuous but affording exceptional views, is long.de Hart, Allen and Bruce Sundquist (2006), ''Monongahela National Forest Hiking Guide'', 8th edition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy,

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 2020 census and an estimated population of 48,018 in 2021. The Charlesto ...

, pg 106.

References

External links

Shavers Mountain Survey Project
an effort by cavers of the VAR (Virginia Region of the NSS) to locate, push and survey the caves of Shavers Mountain. {{Mountains of West Virginia Ridges of West Virginia Landforms of Randolph County, West Virginia Landforms of Tucker County, West Virginia Ridges of Pocahontas County, West Virginia Allegheny Mountains Monongahela National Forest