CANDLER, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Pisgah View State Park, located in the lap of Mount Pisgah just 18 miles outside of Asheville, N.C., will provide Western North Carolina with over 1,500 acres of hiking, recreation and outdoor community when it opens. The big question is when that will be.
To find the answer, 828newsNOW spoke to Glenn Middleton, founding executive director of the Friends of Pisgah View State Park, a natural, educational and historical advocacy group supporting the growth of the nascent park.
When will Pisgah View State Park open?
Pisgah View State Park is located at 70 Pisgah View Ranch Road, the former site of Pisgah View Ranch in Candler, N.C., property owned by the Cogburn Family for over 200 years.
A bill to authorize a state park at Pisgah View Ranch passed the North Carolina House and North Carolina Senate in the summer of 2019, and additional funding authorized by the North Carolina General Assembly and former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper in 2021 allowed the state to purchase the remaining acreage from the Cogburns. In the five years since, state and local planners have been at work to open the park to the public.
Middleton explained that there are three phases in the “master plan” to open Pisgah View: Soft opening, front country and back country.
Securing the soft opening
The first stage of public access to Pisgah View will focus on offering visitors access to things like a short loop trail, a pavilion, a kiosk, pit toilets and a small gravel parking lot.
“It’s a way for the public to enjoy the space, but also for the other phases to keep going,” Middleton said.
In order to maximize the number of people who can enjoy the park, the loop trail is also intended to be made accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Originally, the soft opening of Pisgah View was slated for commencement in 2025. However, Tropical Storm Helene forced those plans to change. The storm ripped through WNC in September 2024, tearing up the timeline of the master plan with it.
“Now those plans, obviously, have to be adjusted,” Middleton said. “The rangers did a great job of documenting what was happening in real time with Helene, and they’ve given that information to the state planners, so that they can look at that, and look at the master plan and adjust that planning process.”
Middleton said that while there is a possibility the park will get its soft opening back on track for 2026, it is “very much dependent on things like funding and assistance.”
From the front to the back
While soft opening plans continue, Middleton said that state planners are working with park rangers to prepare the infrastructure of the “front country,” comprising about 40 structures in need of repair, demolition or updates for ADA compliance, as well as “any kind of the area that’s a little bit more level.” That’s phase two.
Phase three will focus on the “back country.”
“That’s the larger expansive trail systems,” Middleton clarified. “Everything proposed from separate horse and hiking trails to back country camping sites and all sorts of possibilities. There’s so many vistas in that property. I think at least half a dozen cascading waterfalls. So, there’s a lot of incredible recreation potential.”
While phase one of the master plan is in development, Middleton said not to expect much information about phases two and three.
“They know how long projects like [Gorges State Park] took, and so they don’t want to put a date out there and then have to walk that back a number of different times,” Middleton said. “They want to focus on getting folks prepared for phase one and what phase one looks like.”
The history behind Pisgah View State Park
According to Middleton, Mount Pisgah got its name “a long, long time ago” from a pastor in the region. The name is derived from the Bible verse Deuteronomy 3:27, which reads, “Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”
There is a terrific view of Mount Pisgah from the land which would become Pisgah View. Thus, the name.
However, the land around the park was previously tended by several Native American tribes, including the Catawba Indian Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Muscogee Nation, and was referred to as Elseetoss by the Cherokee.
Middleton said that there was a possibility that Pisgah View could be known by a different name, “if that is where the park decides to go,” citing as an example the September 2024 reversion of Clingman’s Dome to Kuwohi, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians name for the peak.
After the Trail of Tears forced Cherokee from the Pisgah region in the 1830s, the land was taken over by the Davis Family, who later ceded the land to the Cogburns.
“The story goes that one of the Cogburn patriarchs came over to court a Davis woman, and they, through that marriage, created that land ownership in the Cogburn family,” Middleton shared.
The land stayed with the Cogburns, who established Pisgah View Ranch as a gathering space for the community.
“People would come and ride horses on the trails, they would also come and have dances in the old red barn,” Middleton detailed. “People very fondly remember meals at the big white ranch house. And so, that went on for a good, long while, and then as that business started to decline a little bit, [the Cogburns] started to look for potential buyers of the property.”
Middleton said that one of the first board members of the Friends of Pisgah View State Park, David Cogburn, and his siblings were “instrumental” in determining that the future of the property should rest in the hands of the state. Their efforts, combined with other conservation-minded organizations, like the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, laid the groundwork for the state park Pisgah View will become.
Today, the Pisgah View is cared for by Park Superintendent Tyson Phillips and Park Rangers Jamie Cameron and Wade Engels, with maintenance by Kevin Morgan and enthusiastic assistance from Friends of Pisgah View State Park members.
What now?
As Buncombe County residents await the soft opening of Pisgah View, Middleton said that the Friends of Pisgah View State Park are here to keep the community engaged in the process. The organization routinely plans events like litter clean-ups, community gatherings and a featured speaker series.
The next speaker event will be held from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 30 at Ruby Ranch, 36 Kel County Road, Candler. The first half of the event will be dedicated to a historical presentation, while the second will be open to community members to share their personal stories, memories and perspectives on the Pisgah View land.
To keep up with all future Pisgah View events, or for more information about the Friends of Pisgah View State Park, visit www.friendsofpisgahviewsp.org.