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Lone Wolf
01-11-2005, 11:50
He's back open for the 05 season. Will stay open until it sells. Anybody got a half $mill? He's got lectricity and phone service now. More info on Wingfoot's site.

Mountain Dew
01-12-2005, 03:21
How many acres is it ? Seems to me that the place will be open for quit some time to come.

The Solemates
01-12-2005, 10:17
19 acres, according to trailplace.

neo
01-12-2005, 17:27
i stayed at rusty,s in oct 2002 ,i will not be the same without rusty:sun neo

Lilred
01-12-2005, 18:25
i stayed at rusty,s in oct 2002 ,i will not be the same without rusty:sun neo


Where is it?

weary
01-12-2005, 18:32
Where is it?
Rusty's is a few miles south of the southern (Waynesboro) entrance to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, and a mile or so west of the trail.

Weary

Skyline
01-12-2005, 19:28
Sale price is $495,000. Here's a link to the listing, including a nice pic with what I think may be The Priest in the background:

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?snum=3&locallnk=yes&frm=bymap&mnbed=0&mnbath=0&mnprice=175000&mxprice=500000&js=off&pgnum=1&fid=so&mnsqft=&mls=xmls&areaid=80575&typ=1%2C+2%2C+3%2C+4%2C+5%2C+6%2C+7&poe=realtor&ct=Lyndhurst&st=VA&sbint=&vtsort=&sid=040E65568EBEC&snumxlid=1042229453&lnksrc=00002

Glad Rusty reopened until it sells, for hikers' sake and for his. I'm betting he started to miss his hikers. It's happened before.

jlb2012
01-12-2005, 20:26
Where is it?
probably the easiest way to hike to Rusty's is to take the woods road by Maupin Field shelter - about 1.8(?) miles and you reach Love Gap and the Blue Ridge Parkway - go south on the BRPW about 1.6(?) miles and look for a gate to the left and down hill slightly - the gate has a "RUSTY" sign on it. The gate is a single iron pipe design that you can walk around.

weary
01-12-2005, 21:58
Sale price is $495,000. Glad Rusty reopened until it sells, for hikers' sake and for his. I'm betting he started to miss his hikers. It's happened before.
A cousin of mine is married to a former small college president. Once when we were chatting about town land trust matters I told him we had been promised a piece of land in the will of a town resident. He said I should never trust such promises and told a story of a rich widow who had promised his college a rich legacy, but when she died, his college got nothing. Enquiries, he said, revealed that a church had moved in later and convinced her that it was a better choice.

His message to me was to always stay in contact with folks who promise things. "Otherwise," he said, "someone else will move in and take over."

I expect that may be what happened with Rusty's Hard Time Hollow. In 1993 he had elaborate plans for dedicating his land forever for use by Appalachian Trail hikers. That was a good dream. But no one from the trail community apparently stepped forward to make sure it really happened.

The indications seem to be that the money from Rusty's sale will go to a fundamentalist church. Rusty is among my favorite people in this world. But he never struck me as a sophisticated person. A brother is a doctor or something. I forget. But Rusty, if I remember rightly, quit school very early. Eighth grade? Regardless. He once was a trail person. He now is a religious person. I wish Rusty all the luck in the world. I spent a marvelous six days there in 1993, which I will never forget.

Weary

Rocks 'n Roots
01-13-2005, 01:49
A half million for that old Appalachian barn yard? That comes to $25,000 an acre for rural mountain slope land?

:-?

U-BOLT
01-13-2005, 02:45
A half million for that old Appalachian barn yard? That comes to $25,000 an acre for rural mountain slope land?
:-?
There's definitely something wrong with that price. Realter probably put the decimal one place too far to the right by mistake.

Mountain Dew
01-13-2005, 02:49
Sounds like the realtor is trying to see if any enviromental agency will overpay for the acres. I doubt if the property gets half that asking price. Heck, why doesn't he keep it open as a religious hostel of sorts. Wait..I know the answer to that. dolt ;)

MOWGLI
01-13-2005, 09:05
A half million for that old Appalachian barn yard? That comes to $25,000 an acre for rural mountain slope land?

:-?

My guess is that in 50 years, people will be kicking themselves realizing they could have a place like this right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The key is location, location, location. That doesn't mean that the property is worth the asking price today. It just reflects the fact that if you could have afforded it, you would have purchased every inch of available land in the US in 1955. Few investments have appreciated as much.

weary
01-13-2005, 09:52
My guess is that in 50 years, people will be kicking themselves realizing they could have a place like this right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The key is location, location, location. That doesn't mean that the property is worth the asking price today. It just reflects the fact that if you could have afforded it, you would have purchased every inch of available land in the US in 1955. Few investments have appreciated as much.
Absolutely true. I bought my two acres on what was then polluted water on a coast of Maine tidal estuary 42 years ago for $2,950 -- complete with dilapidated house. Most people I had asked for advice thought it was a terrible thing to waste my money on.

When my three kids were all here over the holidays I told them not to sell it for less than a half a million. Of course that assumes my wife and I will be around for another year or two.

Most of the big land profits have gone to out of staters. Us natives remember what the land sold for yesterday. The imports know what similar land sells for in Massachusetts, Connecticut and points south.

Bargain lands are still available in Maine, however. That's why we have formed the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust. Million acre blocks are being sold for less than $300 an acre. AMC bought its 37,000 acres for just $365 each.

Our land trust doesn't expect to be able to buy a million acres -- at least not right away. But there are a number of smaller parcels that are critical to preserving a wild trail environment. Two we have already purchased -- critical slopes on Saddleback and the summit ridge of Abraham. -- though we have a $200,000 mortgage.

You can help. Just open www.matlt.org

Weary

Skyline
01-13-2005, 11:42
19 acres immediately adjacent to the BRP would be a developer's dream. The price is not out of line. Problem is, the NPS will put up many roadblocks to development if anyone tries to put in condos or a resort that can be seen from the Parkway--and then there's the issue of 24/7/365 access.

Rusty's (or his family's) best bet would be that someone with very deep pockets who wants it for a private home (retreat) would buy it. With just a single home there, and creative landscaping, it might not be as offensive to the Park Service (which administers the Blue Ridge Parkway). And one family could probably get access when the BRP gate is closed due to bad weather whereas scores of condo residents or guests at a resort could not. (Or just park on Rt. 814 and hike in like visitors to the Hollow do now.)

The Solemates
01-13-2005, 11:44
19 acres immediately adjacent to the BRP would be a developer's dream. The price is not out of line. Problem is, the NPS will put up many roadblocks to development if anyone tries to put in condos or a resort that can be seen from the Parkway--and then there's the issue of 24/7/365 access.

Rusty's (or his family's) best bet would be that someone with very deep pockets who wants it for a private home (retreat) would buy it. With just a single home there, and creative landscaping, it might not be as offensive to the Park Service (which administers the Blue Ridge Parkway). And one family could probably get access when the BRP gate is closed due to bad weather whereas scores of condo residents or guests at a resort could not. (Or just park on Rt. 814 and hike in like visitors to the Hollow do now.)

Couldnt agree more. I hope this is what happens.

Rocks 'n Roots
01-13-2005, 16:48
Back in the 1920's Benton MacKaye dreamed we could have a corridor where the public had the sense to offset this inevitable downslide and its impact to the American landscape and nature (and therefore Americans)...

There's no way a narrow national park should not have been made around the upper Maine AT. It's a crime...

Jack Lincoln
01-14-2005, 05:21
Why can't you couch your language in something that the mojority of us can understand. I have known you for seven years and you still come across as a damn dolt.

ocourse
01-14-2005, 08:26
Wow, I can't figure out what Rocks and Roots posted to deserve that response. I think it was out of line - but I have rather thin skin sometimes. I enjoyed the info in this thread.

Rocks 'n Roots
01-14-2005, 17:08
Seems simple enough. I suspect some people have conservative corn blocking their ear passages.

Sadly Appalachian Trail internet sites still continue as a place where people who express the AT's philosophical purpose are subject to abuse and ridicule...

wacocelt
01-21-2005, 17:13
A half million for that old Appalachian barn yard? That comes to $25,000 an acre for rural mountain slope land?

Yup, that's sounds about right. I spoke with a fellow I hitched with near Hiawasee who had bought land near Unicoi Gap 10 years before who mentioned that the local acreage was selling for 30,000 an acre. You should see the small hotel looking houses that are being built all around and river, lake or mountain ridge in that area RnR, you'de swallow your tongue in digust.