SAVING MATHIAS GROVE
in Hocking Hills
60-acre Mathias Grove is the visionary home, grounds, and wildlands retreat of Clyde Gosnell, beloved Ohio conservationist and wilderness advocate. Our hope is to preserve this property as a lasting tribute to Clyde’s lifelong devotion to nature preservation.
Mathias Grove is currently listed for sale on the open market by Clyde’s family. At the heart of the property is a stunning deep and narrow gorge. Two species of trilliums carpet the canyon floor so bountifully that the floral showcase has been visited by thousands of people when Clyde owned the property! Hemlock trees march up both sides of the 75-foot ravine, topped by sentinel sandstone cliffs at the bluffs. The box canyon terminates at a rock shelter and seasonal waterfall. Within the boundaries are seven artesian wells, prairie, beaver colony, wetlands, and the finger of a steep-sided ridgetop that is covered with mature oaks and hickories. The property is essentially free of invasive plants.
Clyde is both an architect and carpenter, and many of the house’s components were made in his workshop. He designed and managed his home so that it could anchor the property as a “hospitality gateway to Hocking Hills.” Our dream is to make sure it remains so. We aim to resurrect the Trillium Festival and are committed to hosting guided hikes and special educational events so that the property remains the pulse of Hocking Hills.
Our essential “first step” is to negotiate a purchase contract, secured via a circle of committed donors and lenders. Afterward, once the property is safely off the market, we can conduct a less time-constrained public fundraising campaign. Asking price is $1.7 million. Below are three galleries.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the timeline to save this property? A sympathetic nonprofit, Wilderness East, is holding one of the project parcels for the Arc of Appalachia, giving us the time we need to raise the campaign funds. If we fail to meet our deadlines, one of the parcels making up this two-parcel project could still be lost, while interest rates on our loan would likely kick in. Naturally, to fail would severely damage our forward momentum. Because of Wilderness East’s devotion and assistance, we are able to guarantee that all donations received will be safely applied to this campaign.
What expenses are covered by the campaign? The campaign total includes the sale price, closing costs, and a small percentage of funds (7% or less) to cover the cost of preparing the closing papers, running the campaign, pursuing grant sources, and processing the donations. All of this is accomplished in-house with our Arc staff. Stewardship funds are not included in this campaign and will be raised separately. For more information on how the Arc stewards its preserves, follow this link, “Stewardship Forever.”
Will I be able to visit the property? The Arc of Appalachia is renowned for developing some of Ohio’s most stunning trails, currently maintaining over 80 miles of them. We look forward to the day the corridor fills in between these two preservation forest blocks of Clear Creek and Hocking Hills via Cantwell Cliffs, because it would create a corridor in which we could build what we are sure would be an immensely popular connecting trail. In the meantime, we will offer guided hikes into the property from time to time. Be sure to subscribe to our education notices via email and through Telegram, a phone app that shares our nature discoveries, to keep up with our progress. Click the Subscribe button.
Is the Arc a trustworthy nonprofit? The answer is YES!! Naturally, we are just a wee bit biased, but all for good reasons! Our dynamic staff and committed board are all dedicated to integrity, honesty. efficiency, hard work, and transparency. The best reviews of all come from our donors, nearly all of whom stay with us long-term. Many who supported us when the Arc started 30 years ago are still a part of our community. For those of you interested in fiscal data, our 2024 audited financials are linked to our donation page. We invite you to read more about our mission here while also checking out our recent annual news magazines - a celebration of the Arc’s energized land preservation achievements! We hope you will consider visiting us at our headquarters, the 3,000-acre Highlands Nature Sanctuary in south central Ohio, where we have 18 miles of trails and overnight rental cabins.
Would you like to contact us? Phone our office staff at (937) 365-1935, or write to arcpreserveinfo@gmail.com. Our headquarters at the Appalachian Forest Museum is hosted by REAL people (amazing, right?), 7 days a week from March 15 to November 15, from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. The other half of the year, our phones and emails are staffed Monday through Friday.
Help us spread the word about this campaign! Something in this campaign has your name on it. Let us help you find it!
Each one of us has a unique network. We are all separated from every other human being by no more than six handshakes. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it is a lovely assertion of our interconnectedness. If you are willing to share news of this campaign to your networking circles, know that our front door is wide open to help you help us. We delight in putting broken lands back together again and removing the fences between them. And you know what? We feel exactly the same way about people. You can reach us at the contacts above.
A Word About Grants. We will be trying to supplement some of the funding we need for the Emerald Forest campaign with grant and other award monies, but even in the best scenario, these funds are glacially slow in arriving. And, because grants are competitively awarded, they are uncertain. Our goal, therefore, is to fully fund this project with private dollars. If, at a future time, we are lucky enough to be able to replace some of our private funding with grant monies, we will move the excess private funds back into our Land Revolving Fund. If so, that would be great news for both the campaign AND our donors because monies in the Land Revolving Fund are recycled, potentially leveraging funds over and over again for multiple future land projects.
Our donors love it when their money can be reused and recycled, and we love it too! We can’t predict the future or know how this campaign will play out. Yet, when the call to protect something greater than ourselves grows loud, we answer together. This success belongs to all of us. We’ll continue sharing our progress as we work to protect Appalachian wildlands in the months and years ahead.