ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 8, 1996 TAG: 9612100007
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-18 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BARREN SPRINGS
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Peace overtures from the state have failed to budge four property owners who own about two miles of land along the New River Trail State Park.
That means the 57-mile riverside trail remains interrupted in Wythe County after a decade of work.
The trail, which winds through Pulaski, Wythe, Carroll and Grayson counties, attracts more than 100,000 people a year to hike, bike or ride horses through scenic wilderness areas and by historic sites along the old railroad line.
The four landowners call the state's offers too low and say they have not even responded to them. A fifth owner, Nita Gay, did accept a state offer to buy her property.
"I don't think it's enough, and I wouldn't accept it," said landowner Clara Edwards. Although she got a written offer, she said, "they haven't talked to us about anything."
Even though her land remains private property, that has not stopped people from crossing it, she said. "People still go on it. People's awful rude."
Edwards recently looked down from her property along the New River, where geese were resting. "I'd rather have the geese than the people."
Norfolk Southern Corp. donated the railroad bed to the state a decade ago for use as the state's only linear park. At least, NS thought that's what it had done. A number of property owners, including Edwards, successfully argued that their deeds contained a clause returning the property to them when it was no longer used as a railroad.
The largest property owner with a reversion clause in the deed was Neuhoff Farms, and a Circuit Court judge finally ruled in that owner's favor. Since then, the state has paid $560,000 for 165 acres of farm property, including 22 buildings at the tiny village of Foster Falls. That land is now being developed for park use.
But that remaining two-mile section near Barren Springs, where Virginia 100 crosses the New River, still keeps the trail from being completely open. And there is no convenient way around the private land for those who want to hike, bicycle or ride horses all along the trail.
Pulaski County officials, noting the tourism potential of the trail, tried to work with state transportation representatives to find a way to route visitors around the two miles using Virginia 100. But Mark Hufeisen, park superintendent, said such a detour is not recommended and could be dangerous because of traffic.
"I do not think condemnation is going to be an option, at least not while Gov. [George] Allen is in office," said state Del. Tommy Baker, R-Pulaski County. Baker served with Allen in the House of Delegates. "He feels very strongly about personal property rights."
State Parks Director Joe Elton agrees that the state has not treated the property owners well. But a previous attorney general's opinion held that the NS donation covered all the properties along the trail, so the state was not authorized to negotiate with the owners who claimed otherwise.
"The counsel that the Department of Conservation and Recreation had gotten in the past was that we owned the property, and the landowners had different ideas about that," he said. "Now the legal counsel has come full circle, and we don't own the property."
So it is unfair to say the property owners are blocking the trail being open, he said. "We've never made them an offer in the past, because of the legal opinions we had." Now, offers have been made to all the property owners based on appraisal values.
"The landowners have expectations and needs, and we're trying to negotiate something that will resolve this situation once and for all," Elton said.
"I didn't accept their offer. It's not enough," said Frances Chrisley, Edwards' sister and neighbor.
"I do have a `No Trespassing' sign up," Chrisley said, but it is often ineffective.
"You can meet some nice people, and you can meet some smart alecks" who simply don't believe the trail is not entirely open, and just travel through the barriers. "They just laugh in your face. What can you do with people like that?"
Chrisley couldn't help laughing, though, when she saw a boy on a bicycle ride up to where a chain with a no-trespassing sign stretched across the trail. She said the acrobatic lad hopped off the bike, tossed it over the barrier and hopped back on with hardly a pause. It was funny to watch, she said.
Chrisley has taken some heat from preservationists for selling the remains of an historic old iron furnace on her property to Dr. Bruce Fariss, a resident of the Fairlawn area of Pulaski County where he is on the Board of Supervisors. Fariss plans to rebuild and preserve it on his property.
"It was falling. The state had a sign up there to stay off of it. There were people using the bathroom on it," she said. "I couldn't take a chance on somebody getting hurt on it."
Chrisley is also concerned about maintaining a right of way to cross the trail, which would separate her property and leave part of it isolated from vehicle traffic.
Charles King and William Steele are the other owners. Steele, who lives in Pulaski, has relatives buried near the trail site. He and his family also enjoy hunting in the area. He is unsure how state acquisition of the property would affect those situations.
New headquarters to open this month
Meanwhile, the property which the state did buy from Neuhoff Farms is at the center of changes in the park.
The mobile home near the historic Shot Tower above New River, on land leased from Tom Jackson, will soon no longer serve as park headquarters. The headquarters will move into a brick building, once an old wash house, at Foster Falls, probably around Christmas week.
NS will be donating a caboose to the park, "so we're going to have a caboose at Foster Falls," Hufeisen said. There are already cabooses located along the trail at Galax and Fries.
Yet another caboose sits at Pulaski's Train Station, which will mark a trail terminus once the trail is extended into the town of Pulaski. A site plan is being reviewed by U.S. Forest Service officials in Atlanta.
Once the extension occurs and after the two-mile controversy in Wythe County is settled, the trail will be nearly 60 miles long.
Primitive campsites are being planned along New River. "The key word there is `primitive,''' Hufeisen said. "That's the biggest request we get now trail site camping."
Canoe and riding concessions planned
A new concessionaire, Roy Hackler of the Virginia Heights Bike Shop, will offer canoe access to the New River in the park. "People just enjoy coming to the river," Hufeisen said, "and now they can get to it." Boating bookings will be taken from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Eventually, bids will be sought for a concession providing horses to ride the trail, guided tours and maybe even a small horse equipment shop.
Bids for that concession must wait until the barn on the Foster Falls property is rebuilt. No timetable has been set, but there is a section of the park where horse trailers can be parked.
"What we're doing is stabilizing the old buildings. We're not renovating them yet," Hufeisen said. "Over time, we'll just keep on working on buildings and stuff continue with the master plan."
An old hotel among the buildings has been stabilized. "We're looking at a bed-and-breakfast type situation. That's the plan. We're looking to bid it out," he said. "The idea is to get a private entity in there to develop a business."
An old depot will eventually be a gift shop and learning center. "There are only two left of these wooden depots on the whole line," he said. "It's a piece of history that we're able to salvage."
Many volunteers, from trail enthusiasts to Boy Scout groups, have helped with the trail, Hufeisen said. He hopes riding clubs might be interested in helping with trail preparations. Businesses and corporations can sponsor campsites. "It doesn't take much to put one in," Hufeisen said.
Next year will mark the park's 10th year. Already the economic development office in the town of Pulaski gets more inquiries about park use than any other single attraction. It is open all year, even in winter when it is used by cross country skiers.
The number of users is estimated at 100,000 a year, Hufeisen said, but it is still difficult to confirm the actual number. "I'd say it's probably over that."
LENGTH: Long : 159 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON Staff. 1. A deteriorating iron furnace nearby CNBthe New River Trail State Park (ran on NRV-1). 2. Clara Edwards
looks at a wine bottle she found on her property, which the state
hopes to open as part of the New River Trail State Park. Right now,
she has a chain across the former rail bed. 3. Landowner Frances
Chrisley walks the part of the trail that is off-limits to trail
users. 4. Landowner Clara Edwards says she would rather have geese
(top) on her property than people. 5. Signs warning would-be
trespassers are posted (above) along the rail bed in Barren Springs.
color. Graphic: Map by staff. color.