Appalachian Forest Discovery Summit
September 18 - 19, 2025
Snowshoe Mountain Resort

AFNHA is hosting two days of fun in the mountains of Pocahontas County!

Join us at Allegheny Springs at the top of Snowshoe Mountain on Thursday, September 18th, to come together with those who have an interest in, and are doing the work of, preserving, interpreting, and showcasing all the significant features of the AFNHA region. On Friday, September 19th, we’ll host behind the scenes tours of three important sites in Pocahontas County.

Representatives for Thursday's presentations include:

Friday, September 19th | Free

Go behind-the-scenes to discover three significant sites in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.

Green Bank Observatory: home of the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope, protected by the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000 square mile area designated in 1958 to minimize the impact of radio interference on scientific research and other federal projects.

Fort Warwick Historical Site: historic militia fort built in 1774 along Deer Creek near Green Bank in Pocahontas County, WV, originally established by Virginia militia companies.

Cass Scenic Railroad State Park: behind the scenes tour of the machine shop used to service the heritage railway at Cass.

Tentative Schedule:

Day 1

September 18, 2025 - $30 per person - Lunch will be provided on Thursday.

Tygart Room | Allegheny Springs | Snowshoe, WV

  • 8:30 AM: Registration Opens

  • 9 AM: Opening Remarks & Membership Meeting

  • 9:30-10:30 AM: Session I: AFNHA - Program Highlights and Opportunities

  • 10:45 - 12:00 PM: Sessions III & IV (Separate Spaces)

  • 12:15 PM: Networking Lunch (Combined Space)

  • 1:30 - 2:45 PM: Sessions V & VI (Separate Spaces)

  • 2:45 - 4:00 PM: Sessions VII & VIII (Separate Spaces)

  • 4:15 PM: Closing Remarks (Combined Spaces)

  • 4:30 PM: Close of Summit Conference

  • 7:30 PM: Join AFNHA Board and Staff for dinner and drinks on your own at The Junction Restaurant next to Allegheny Springs.

Day 2

September 19, 2025 - FREE

Pocahontas County Partners Tour

Please register with the Tour Add-on to help us plan for snacks and refreshments.

Itinerary:

  • 9 AM -11 AM: Green Bank National Radio Astronomical Observatory

  • 11:30 AM - 1 PM: Fort Warwick Historical Society

  • 1:30 PM: Cass Scenic Railroad State Park lunch on your own at Shays Restaurant

  • 2:30 PM: Behind the Scenes Tour of Cass State Park



Lodging

Lodging reservations can be made with Snowshoe Mountain for overnight guests online at www.snowshoemtn.com or by calling 877.441.4386. No group plan has been set up, but rates are very reasonable on the weekdays this time of year. The Inn at Snowshoe starts at $85 a night midweek.

Please reach out regarding any questions or comments you may have.



A First Look at Our Featured Presenters



From Coal Mine to Forest: The Mower Tract Revival

Kristopher Hennig

Kristopher Hennig is the Partnership Coordinator with the Monongahela National Forest. Kris focuses on building collaboration across the National Forest and spends a significant amount of his time working with partners in the Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative, a collaborative focused on restoring red spruce-northern hardwood ecosystems across the high elevation landscapes of Central Appalachia.

Kris earned a master’s degree in biology from the University of Mississippi and originally moved to West Virginia to examine the relationships between fungi, red spruce, and flying squirrels. He has worked in the field of natural resource conservation and management for nearly two decades with an emphasis in forest ecology and land restoration. He currently resides in Elkins, WV with his partner and their five year old son and loves to explore the National Forest at every opportunity!

He will be presenting on the Mower Tract, a 40,000 acre landscape acquired by the Monongahela National Forest in the mid-1980s. Historically hosting a mature, red spruce forested ecosystem, this area was heavily impacted via unsustainable logging in the early 1900s and coal mining from the 1950s-1980s. Beginning in the 2000s, the US Forest Service and other conservation partners began efforts to restore this landscape into an area of recreational and ecological significance. During his presentation, Kristopher will discuss the natural history and ecology of this region and the subsequent restoration efforts that have taken place to restore this vast and vital landscape.





The Fort Warwick Project: Archaeology, Heritage Tourism, and Agritourism

Dr. Kim A. McBride and Dr. W. Stephen McBride

Dr. W. Stephen McBride and Dr. Kim A. McBride are historical archaeologists from Greenbrier County, WV who have worked in university, research, and museum settings, and with an emphasis on public archaeology and heritage tourism for over 40 years, mostly within the Appalachian region. They have studied and helped promote heritage tourism around frontier forts of West Virginia since 1989. They have received awards from the National Park Service, the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, the West Virginia Archaeological Society, and the Kentucky Historical Society.



Dr. Kim A. McBride and Dr. W. Stephen McBride will together lead a session focused on archaeology within heritage tourism, discussing how archaeology of the colonial frontier fort of Fort Warwick has been combined with extensive heritage tourism to reach a broad audience of general public and public schools, resulting in enhanced site preservation and site interpretation, and enhanced public education about crucial forest resources in Appalachian frontier settlement and history.

Bob Sheets

Bob Sheets is a retired Pocahontas County High School English teacher and basketball coach. His farm in Green Bank is the location of Fort Warwick or Warwick’s Fort. The fort was built on the property of William Warwick, who is Bob’s fifth great-grandfather. Bob has been actively involved in the excavations at Fort Warwick for the past 20 years and was recently recognized with an Archaeology Award by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia for the education and public outreach component of the Fort Warwick Project.

Bob Sheets will continue the session on combining heritage tourism with agritourism, with a focus on maple syrup production, a family tradition in the Sheets family.





West Virginia as an Island Nation

Dara Vance

Dara Vance is the Executive Director of Greenbrier Historical Society. She studied for her PhD in U.S. Southern History at the University of Kentucky, with emphasis on the intersection of geography and the social interactions of migrant groups in the U.S. South. Dara also holds an MA in Regional Studies, an MA in Educational Leadership, an MFA in Fashion Design, and a BFA in painting. Previously, she taught U.S. History at the University of Kentucky, served as a Program Manager for Shaker Village in Kentucky and a Program Coordinator for the Florida Humanities Council, and taught visual art in a magnet high school for the arts.

West Virginia as an Island Nation is a journey that begins with the regional identity theories of Davis Hackett Fischer and Joel Garreau. With this foundation established we examine geographic isolation in post Civil War Florida, envisioning Florida as the Northernmost Caribbean Island. We then transition to West Virginia, and through the same analysis of geography as an agent acting on regional identity, we discuss the Mountain as an Island within Appalachia and within the nation. Key takeaways are an understanding of how geography and environment act on people, the social norms, and their identities.



The Snowshoe Story - From Timber to Tourism

Shawn Cassell

Shawn Cassell is the Marketing Director for Snowshoe Mountain and a founding member of Snowshoe’s Sustainability Action Committee. A 2013 graduate of Appalachian State University, Shawn has been in Pocahontas County for over a decade now, playing a role in the region’s growing tourism economy.



Shawn will be presenting “The Snowshoe Story – From Timber to Tourism,” a look at the history of the Snowshoe lands and their transition from a sprawling logging operation into the region’s top skiing and mountain biking destination.





The Paw Paw Tannery: A Microcosm of the History of West Virginia's Tanning Industry

David Abruzzi

David Abruzzi is a veteran and registered architect who founded Cacapon Preservation Solutions, LLC in 2022 with the vision to “Protect and Preserve WV Historic Places for the benefit of current and future generations”. The purpose of his firm is to “assist property owners, municipalities, residents, and concerned citizens who want to protect and preserve historic structures and navigate the historic preservation process.” In 2025, the state of WV recognized David’s work in Paw Paw, WV with the WV History Hero Award. David earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Architecture from Tulane University and a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of New Mexico with graduate level coursework in historic preservation. He and his wife settled in Largent, in the eastern panhandle of WV, in 2014 after David completed a 20-year career as an Air Force Civil Engineer Officer.



This presentation looks at the 80 plus year history of the tannery at Paw Paw, WV. His presentation will explore the relationship between the WV tannery industry and Appalachian resources to shape local economies and fuel development in tannery towns. During his presentation, David will examine the ties between tanneries and use of Appalachian natural resources like timber and water using the Paw Paw Tannery as a case study.

 

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