Location and Directions

The Spruce Knob Mountain Center is located in Pendleton County on the upper slopes of Spruce Knob mountain (4,863'), West Virginia's highest point. The landscape is characterized by a rolling, high altitude plateau known since pre-colonial times as the "Hunting Ground". The Center is surrounded on three sides (north, east, and west) by National Forest land, and by private land to the southeast.

SKMC is located one hour from an airport (Petersburg, WV), 35 minutes from the Pendleton Community Care Clinic (Franklin, WV), one and a half hours from bus service and major hospital facilities (Harrisonburg, VA), two hours from commercial air service (Shenandoah Valley, VA), and four and a half to five hours from Washington, D.C. (depending on traffic). It is situated in the center of more than 3 million acres of some of the least disturbed wilderness area remaining in the eastern U.S.

Access to the Center is excellent for most of the year using County Route 28/10, which passes through and beside the property. An SCS-engineered gravel road provides access to major property building sites for three seasons of the year. At present, snow and snow drifts prevent motorized access for several weeks each winter (usually January and February).

A detailed map and directions to the SKMC is available for download in PDF format here: skmc_map.pdf(90K)

Directions are also available HERE in text format.

Nearby features of scientific and educational value include the Spruce Knob summit (known for its remnant Pleistocene northern vegetation), archaeology sites on property, Spruce Knob lake, the Monongahela National Forest, Sinks of Gandy caving area, Monongahela Wildlife Management Area, North Fork of the Potomac River, Tuscarora sandstone formations of the Spruce Knob/Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area, Blister Swamp, the proposed Smoke Hole Bioreserve; and the Dolly Sods, Otter Creek, Laurel Fork, and Cranberry Wilderness Areas.

Questions? For more information contact skmc@mountain.org