The deep blue autumn sky sweeps down to meet the panoramic landscape as seen from atop 4,232-foot Bearwallow Mountain. A soft breeze blows as evening shadows spread across the surrounding peaks — the 4,412-foot Little Pisgah two miles across Upper Hickory Nut Gorge, and the dark wall of the Black and Craggy Mountains 21 miles to the north.

Standing here more than 2,200 feet above the valley and twice that distance above sea level, it feels like you could reach out and touch the toy-like houses scattered over the orchards miles below. In one of those homes, Nancy Lyda may be gazing up this way, enjoying the view of the mountaintop she and her family have worked to protect for all time.

“My grandpa (Jerome Barnwell), his dad and two brothers bought the land,” Nancy says of the property, which her family has owned since the 1930s. “As far back as I can remember, we’ve always had cattle on the mountain.”

For at least as long, visitors have been coming up here to enjoy one of Henderson County’s most striking views. The grassy pastures below the old fire tower stay clear (and the grass nibbled short) thanks to the Lydas’ cattle. Each May, the cows climb like mountain goats through the rugged forests up the “backside” of Bearwallow to graze. And each fall when the temperatures start to dip, they make their way back down to the family’s land in the valley below.

The cows may be oblivious to the fact that they enjoy one of the best views in Henderson County, but the family that owns them knows the value of this land. And the Lydas’ love of this land goes far beyond giving cows a cool spot to graze in the summer.

“My dad loved the mountain,” Nancy says. “He never wanted to sell.”

Her father, George Barnwell, passed away in 1999. A few years after that, a developer got approval to build more than 300 homes on Bearwallow Mountain, despite lack of a water supply for that many homes.

After a contentious debate, county leaders in 2009 approved plans for the City of Hendersonville to build a $4 million water line and tank to serve the development. That same year, the Lyda family took the first steps to preserve their land atop the mountain.

Nancy’s mother, Pearl Barnwell, had been talking with what was then the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy (now Conserving Carolina) about preserving the some of the 700 acres the family owns atop Bearwallow. Nancy’s brother, George “Sonny” Barnwell also worked on conserving the land prior to his death in 2014.

In 2009, the organization completed a conservation easement, for which the family voluntarily agreed to give up development rights, on 81 acres of the peak. In 2012, the family and the conservancy completed a second easement on 89 acres west to Bearwallow Gap. Then, in May of this year, the family worked with the conservancy to finalize a third easement on 306 acres east of the peak to Little Bearwallow Mountain.

Now, a total of 476 acres is protected atop Bearwallow, preserving in an undeveloped state the mountain’s familiar humpbacked profile that defines the northeast horizon in Henderson County.

Not all conservation easements allow for public access. But the one the Lyda family has completed on their land will allow Conserving Carolina to complete an important link in its Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Trail and Network. The future 20-mile loop of trails will connect the top of Bearwallow with protected lands such as Conserving Carolina’s 600-acre Florence Nature Preserve east of Gerton, and hundreds more acres protected by the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy around Hickory Nut Gap.

The ring of protected acreage straddles the Eastern Continental Divide and the high elevation lands where northeast Henderson County abuts Buncombe County.

Seven rare natural communities have been documented, including High Elevation Rocky Summit (two subtypes), Montane Cliff, Rich Montane Seep, pasture, and Southern Appalachian Bog. Specifically, the mountain is home to a small bog, between one quarter and one half acre, in the gap between Bearwallow and Little Bearwallow.

This “appears to be the bearwallow for which the mountain is named,” according to a report prepared on the area of the third conservation easement for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, a source of funding for the project. The public grant dollars were matched by a generous private contribution to the project from Fred and Alice Stanback of Salisbury, N.C.

“A minimum of 387 species have been observed onsite including 249 plant and 38 wildlife species (surveys not comprehensive),” the document states. “The steep, cool northern slopes contain high elevation features and microclimate, harboring high-elevation relic species typically found to the north – an unusual condition for the Blue Ridge Escarpment Area.”

These windswept ridges contain suitable habitat for at least 14 species listed as rare by the state of North Carolina. These include three plants: climbing fumitory, prickly ground pine and bleeding heart; and 11 wildlife species such as the green salamander, Blue Ridge gray-cheeked salamander, crevice salamander, coal skink, cerulean warbler, eastern small-footed bat and eastern spotted skunk.

The “Phase III" conservation easement area is also home to “an astonishingly large acreage, 73 acres, of unlogged old growth forests,” according to the supporting documentation. These biologically rich areas contain a mix of old, young and decaying trees, complex “pit and mound” soil formations and gaps in the canopy that result in an uneven aged forest.

Down in the valley below, Nancy Lyda pauses from mowing her grass on a warm autumn day to trace the history of the family’s efforts to preserve this rare piece of mountaintop land.

“My brother and I and my mom had started the second and third parts (of the conservation easement),” she says. “The last one wasn’t completed when my brother passed away so my children and I decided to go ahead and we finished it up this year.”

Families who wish to preserve their land through conservation easements can continue to use the land as they always have. In the Lyda’s case, they decided to set aside a 2.43-acre tract for a future cabin site for her three children, Tammy Lyda, Jeff Lyda and Jenni Frady, and two grandchildren, Andrew Lyda, 10, a fifth grader at Edneyville Elementary, and Jordan Frady, 17, a senior at North Henderson High.

They also decided to allow public access for the trail system Conserving Carolina is building. “We decided to open it up and let people enjoy the views and the mountain as much as we do,” Nancy says. “And pretty soon there’s going to be more trails up there so more people can enjoy the mountain, thanks to the conservancy.”

The large wooden deck of her home overlooks acres of apple orchards framed by the sweep of the Blue Ridge. Rising above it all into the clear blue sky is Bearwallow – an unchanging presence for generations residents and visitors to Henderson County, and a landmark of family heritage that the Lydas have decided to protect, and share.

“It’s a beautiful place. I love it,” Nancy says. “I try to get up there at least once a week to check on our cattle, and just to be up there. It’s a very calming place.”



Harrison Metzger is an avid outdoorsman and is the guest author of this month’s Stories of the Land column on behalf of Conserving Carolina.

Conserving Carolina, formerly Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and Pacolet Area Conservancy, protects and cares for more than 42,000 acres of lands that you love along the Blue Ridge Mountains, Foothills and Escarpment, Jocassee and Hickory Nut Gorges, and French Broad, North Pacolet and Green River Watersheds. With offices in Hendersonville and Columbus, N.C. — Conserving Carolina focuses on the thoughtful conservation of our mountains, waters, forests and farms. For more information and to support land conservation in our area, visit conservingcarolina.org.