As the Times-News researched the names of the county's top landowners, we found that many had the shared qualities of quiet, wild spaces, namely Pisgah National Forest and DuPont State Recreational Forest.

As the story goes, when Alex Schenck was pinned down in a foxhole in Italy during World War II, he told his friend Isadore Scott that if he made it out alive, he'd go back home to North Carolina and buy some land.

So that's what he did, says Anne Mead, director of Green River Preserve, a summer camp that now occupies the land that Alex Schenck, father of Green River Preserve owner Sandy Schenck, bought after returning from the war.

The 3,093 acres he bought — the property of the Schenck Family Conservancy — constitutes the third-largest land holding in Henderson County.

The Times-News looked into who owns Henderson County and found that the biggest landowners are the federal and state government, followed by Schenck Family Conservancy, several private landowners, Kanuga Conferences, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and more.

The large tracts now preserved for public use, camps and retreats have fulfilled the vision of many who love the North Carolina mountains, including Alex Schenck. He told Scott he'd buy a quiet place if he made it back to North Carolina alive.

"Sandy's father was in a ditch in World War II with bullets flying by his head," Mead said.

The elder Schenck was an avid fly fisherman, and the thousands of acres in southern Henderson County encompass the headwaters of the Green River, Mead said. He bought the land cheap because it had recently been logged.

Four miles of the Green River run through the tract, and it's marked with bald overlooks, caves, waterfalls, petroglyphs, Indian artifacts and more, "an absolutely incredible piece of property," Mead said, one that's quiet and serene with little traffic. Evidently, it's everything Alex Scheck was looking for, and he passed it on to Sandy Schenck, who realized his desire to start a summer camp there.

As the Times-News researched who the top landowners in the county were, many had the shared qualities of quiet, wild spaces, namely Pisgah National Forest and DuPont State Recreational Forest.

According to U.S. Census data, there are 373.07 square miles in the county, a total of 238,764 acres. More than 11 percent, 27,715 acres, is public land owned either by the U.S. government or the state. Together, the top 10 landowners own a total of 41,503.52 acres, 17.38 percent of the county.

The top landowner, literally by miles, is the United States government, which owns Pisgah National Forest. More than 18,700 acres of the forest blanket the county's northwestern corner, and include the North Mills River, South Mills River, peaks and trails, a popular draw for fly anglers, mountain bikers, hikers and more.

Totaling more than 29 square miles, Henderson County's share of Pisgah equals 18,797 acres.

Next is the state of North Carolina, with 8,197 acres in the county, and a little more than half of that land makes up Henderson County's share of DuPont State Recreational Forest, a total of 4,393 acres. The rest is spread among other state agencies like the Wildlife Resources Commission, which is listed with more than 800 acres, the state Department of Transportation and more.

While some others on the top 10 list may not be public lands, they still fall into the category of quiet and serene locales, including the 3,093 acres listed for the Schenck Family Conservancy (Green River Preserve), 1,352 acres owned by Kanuga Conferences at its conference center, which makes it No. 8 on the list, and land owned by the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, No. 10 on the list, with 1,296 acres.

Other landowners include Boyd L. Hyder, who owns 2,430 acres spread across the county, including one 551-acre parcel near DuPont State Recreational Forest. George Barnwell and John A. Ball are the only other two private landowners listed in the top 10, with 1,486 acres and 1,336.5 acres, respectively.

Developer WLAE LLC comes in at No. 7 on the list, with 1,378 acres at the Wolf's Lair property in southern Henderson County.

Land values

But ranking the top landowners in terms of value brings a very different list of 10, with Boyd Hyder being the only landowner who shows up on both. Those differences are due to the zoning, use and other details of the property, according to county officials.

Public lands like Pisgah and DuPont don't have property values listed on county data, paying no property tax, but they bring in money for the county in other ways, says County Manager Steve Wyatt.

Wyatt said the public lands are an amenity for residents, noting that he uses them and saying they're one of the things that make the county a great place to live.

The cons to having so much public land in the county is that no taxes are paid, while the county still has to provide services, primarily emergency services, Wyatt added. But the public lands bring in tourists and other visitors who pay sales tax while in the county, and serve as a lure for new industry.

"Certainly when we compete for a Sierra Nevada or a GF Linamar, the livability, the attractiveness of our county separates us," Wyatt said. "And those are some of the things that make us attractive to those corporate decision-makers."

When it comes to which tracts are the most valuable, John Mitchell, the county's business and community development director, said lots zoned industrial tend to be more valuable in the county since the zoning designation means more potential uses for the land. It also usually means water and sewer hookups.

"If you've got good access and water and sewer and (the) zoning is a business use, you've got one heck of a valuable piece of property in this county," Wyatt said.

No. 1 on the list of owners with the most valuable property is Herman E. Ratchford Jr. of Gastonia, who is listed as the president of several companies that own property in the county: Triangle Ballantyne Hendersonville Inc., Triangle Real Estate of Gastonia and Southwood Realty.

Together, those three companies own 79.82 acres at a total property value of $37,382,300.

Hyder, with $34.5 million in total property value according to the county's data, is second on the list, followed by Wild River Corp., whose president is listed as Ken Grossman, owner of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, with $30,782,400 in 234 acres.

Hyder, a longtime Hendersonville businessman, could not be reached for comment last week.

Industrial sites round out most of the rest of the list, including Wal Mart Real Estate Business Trust with $18 million in 30 acres, Continental Teves with $17.4 million in 38 acres, and UPM Raflatac Inc. with $14.6 million in 17 acres.

Asheville commercial real estate agent George Morosani, listed as the manager or agent for several companies with Henderson County land holdings, including Fi Realty, M Realty and Meadow Garden Associates, comes in ninth on the list, with $13 million in 60.63 acres.