Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor23 State Park Road-Enchanted Waterfront Paradise
23 State Park Road
23 State Park Road-Enchanted Waterfront Paradise. Enchanted Paradise describes this Waterfront Estate. Interior boasts fine details, oak floors, tiled showers, gourmet kitchen and stunning master suite. Tucked amongst mature hemlock and native rhododendron, the grounds are breathtaking with 422′ of waterfront, outdoor fireplace, multiple decks and patios, gazebo, stone pathways, all on 1.26 acres of lakefront bliss. This property defines Unique!
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorFire on the Mountain 2012-Deep Creek
Fire on the Mountain 2012
If you are like me you have a Charlie Daniels song floating around in your head after hearing these words. “Fire on the mountain, lightning in the air” goes the old country rock classic song. Well this year we got a little bit of fire and lightning. The event normally commenced at 9:00pm’ish but was delayed a bit this year because of a huge hail/lightning/rain event that backed up the starting time 45 minutes or so.
Fire on the Mountain 2012-Deep Creek
In case there are a few of you out there that have no clue what I am talking about; Fire on the Mountain is a Fourth of July fireworks event that lights the sky above Wisp Ski Resort every year here at Deep Creek Lake. People line Highway 219 for an optimum vantage point. Or they come by boat to sneak in close to the resort, sit atop Wisp ski slope to catch an eye level view of the fire show, or go to Deep Creek Marina to witness the show while enjoying the new line of boats available for the summer season. Make sure you put this exhilarating event on the calendar with the kiddies next year if you didn’t make it to this year’s event.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorAccident Maryland Annual 4th of July ParadeAccident Maryland Annual 4th of July Parade
Accident Maryland Annual 4th of July Parade
Accident Maryland Annual 4th of July Parade
Accident Maryland Annual 4th of July Parade 2012. This parade represents United States small town living at its finest! The annual 4th of July parade in Accident Maryland is just a few minutes outside of popular Deep Creek Lake. This event just screams All American, apple pie, good-time living, and I think the hundreds of people who jammed the streets of this town would certainly agree. I have families that are of college age who have been participating in this parade since they were in diapers. They made the pilgrimage from Virginia and Wisconsin to once again be involved in this parade. It was a treat seeing an assembly line of vintage cars, floats, fire trucks, marching bands and folks on horseback. Garrett counties own Delegate Wendell Beitzel and Maryland Senator George C. Edwards also participated in the parade. My beautiful and newly pregnant wife Betsy and I relaxed street side in the shade under a huge mature Silver Maple dreaming of the day in the near future that our child would start his or hers participation in this fantastic event. Be sure not to miss it next year!
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
Greetings! Deep Creek Lake was not spared the Friday night storm. We were personally lucky to have avoided a power outage but some others were not so fortunate. The radio said there were roughly 4,000+ people without power after the storm. There are still a few isolated areas without power. We did, however, fare much better than areas to our East. Many of our clients and friends made an unscheduled visit to their vacation homes at Deep Creek Lake because they were without power in the DC and northern VA areas.
Greetings from Deep Creek Lake-July 4th-New Website
The DockDogs event that was held at Wisp this weekend was quite a site to see! I was out of town but my wife Betsy was fascinated by how far some of these dogs can jump, from Chihuahua’s to German Shepherd’s. It’s definitely an event that will go on my 2013 calendar. P.S. The dog is hard to spot in this photo; he’s flying through the air just to the left of the red ball!
Now, on to the beautiful weather and fun 4th of July week ahead of us. The fireworks display will take place at dusk on Wednesday evening from the tubing park at Wisp Resort. You can watch from your car along Garrett Highway, by boat in McHenry Cove or from the Independence Day Concert taking place under the tent at Garrett College (beginning at 7:30pm). This week, July 5-7, at Garrett College under the tent is “Chautauqua”. “Exploring the War of 1812 in Maryland” is the theme. The complete schedule is on the link below. http://www.artsandentertainment.org/pages/chautauqua.html
Looking ahead…The 91st Annual Western Maryland Tennis Championships are scheduled on the clay courts in Mountain Lake Park August 2-5th. Whether you are a tennis player or enjoy being a spectator, you can catch some great tennis! http://www.mlptc.org/
The Spiker Team’s featured listing of the week is a beautiful home within 5 minutes of Deep Creek Lake on 5 acres with its own pond, stream and barn. Convenient country living! http://vt.realbiz360.com/MLS-1041549.html
For up-to-date listings you can search our new website any time of day at www.DeepCreekLakeProperty.com. And, if you have any comments regarding the new design, layout & functionality we’d love to hear from you. Have a great week!
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorBlackwater Falls-West Virginia
Waterfalls near Deep Creek Lake
Blackwater Falls-West Virginia. Do you want to experience a fun day trip? This weekend I took a step off the everyday path and took a Sunday drive to Blackwater Falls, which is a stone’s throw from Thomas, West Virginia. The drive is about 45 minutes or so from the resort end of Deep Creek Lake. The drive alone is worth the price of admission, passing through beautiful rustic farm country and ascending & descending some of the highest mountains that Maryland and West Virginia have to offer. The reward at the end of the line is Blackwater Falls State Park, a fantastic place to experience with your family and friends. From the welcome center, it is only a short walk down the gorge until you are literally in the mist of this mighty waterfall. There are many tiers along the walkway so you can experience the falls from many different vantage points. This can be very therapeutic for those of you who live the busy city life and whose lives get caught up in a web of daily gridlock. Take the family on a little spin South of Deep Creek Lake and experience Garrett County and beyond.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorWisp Resort Closed For The Season 3/18/12
Wisp Resort Closed For The Season 3/18/12. Wisp Resort Closed For The Season 3/18/12 as the springtime temperatures have finally decided to consistently stay warm enough to make snowmaking impossible. It has been a very successful winter for Wisp even though Mother Nature made them work harder than normal to keep snow on the ground. Thankfully the temps dipped periodically throughout the season, and when they did, Wisp was ready on every occasion to maximize their snow making efforts to keep excellent ski conditions throughout a very mild winter season. I talked to a lot of folks who weren’t complaining about skiing groomed corduroy trails with temps in the 50’s-60’s. Thanks Wisp Resort for a great winter season!
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorThe American Chestnut Tree-Deep Creek History
The American Chestnut Tree
I had a fantastic morning before work snowboarding & skiing with local folk hero/historian, Ed King, who has 77 years of life lessons and life long memories & experiences that provide much more insight than a Google search! Ed is a colleague of mine here at Long and Foster who is respected immensely by the people of Garrett County. While on the chairlift the other morning, he shared his memories of the blight that destroyed the queen of timber in the Appalachians, The Chestnut Tree. Our fascinating and unique history here in the United States always revolved around perseverance and ingenuity when faced with disaster, and the chestnut tree has engrained itself in the fables. The chestnut tree has run a full circle of life going from a huge part of the economy, then being wiped out, reclaimed, recycled, reused, and eventually re-established for the future.
The lightweight American chestnut tree was of huge economic importance to the people of Garrett County for many reasons. It was an extremely important component because it could grow to 100’ tall with huge diameters around the base, equating to a large amount of lumber. The tree has a reddish-brown color characteristic that was lightweight, soft, easy to split, very resistant to decay and did not shrink or warp, which made it a goldmine for a developing country.
Unfortunately, a very deadly blight/fungus was introduced in 1904 from the Orient and after 40 years of contamination the Chestnut stands were completely demised throughout Garrett County and the Appalachians. Because of their natural resistance to rot, these dead trees stood for many years as ghosts in the vast forest. The fact that they were very dry was a serious concern for the National Parks, as they were considered fire hazards. Mr. King told me that back then you could go the National Forest and ask for a certain amount of trees and they would give you a paint color to use so you could paint the trees you wanted to cut at a later date. You can imagine that this cheap valuable resource became the go-to wood for locals here at the lake.
When looking for real estate here at the lake, you will often hear of homes where they have reclaimed wormy chestnut and used them in construction details. You probably wonder how the tree got their famous wormy characteristics. After the tree stood year-after-year, the worms started to bore through the lifeless trees so that after harvesting them it would give them the patented black wormy trails through the beautiful red-brown chestnut grain.
The next time you run into a home decked out in wormy chestnut while looking for real estate here at Deep Creek Lake, remember the interesting history associated to this special tree.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorSnow Making Wisp Resort
Snow Making Wisp Resort
Snow Making Wisp Resort. It is Friday, November 18, 2011 here at Deep Creek Lake, one week before Thanksgiving. Wisp Resort has fired up their state-of-the-art snow making system in preparation for the upcoming winter sports season. Temperatures are perfect for snow making at the moment, with humidity down to 50%, crucial for getting that coveted light champagne powder. Wisp Resort is always on the pulse of preparation year-after-year, enabling them to deliver some of the finest snow conditions on the East Coast.
Snow Making Wisp Resort
The temperatures will fluctuate a bit warmer during the week, but that doesn’t mean that this is some vain fire drill and time wasted. After all, snow making is a very complex system that has miles and miles of pipe, valves, snow guns, and nozzles that have to be turned on and pressurized to assure that all the bugs are out of the system before the season starts. Wisp Resort is meticulous regarding every aspect & detail, to guarantee a problem-free experience for everyone that visits the mountain. We have closed the chapter on the summer season and the presence of active snow making machines is a signal to locals (like the leaves changing in the fall) that the snow season is about to begin.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorFall Foliage Deep Creek Lake
Fall Foliage
Fall Foliage Deep Creek Lake. I sit reflecting on the fall season looking across a still mirror lake that reflects off the water the last remaining leaves on the stubborn oak trees that seem determined not to give into old man winter. Looking back a few weeks ago we were fortunate to experience a stellar fall foliage spectacle here at Deep Creek Lake. This particular season seemed to hinge on perfection as every hue of nature’s color spectrum flexed magnificently around the lake and Garrett County. Fisherman out to capitalize on the fall bite witnessed a spectacle from their boats on God’s canvas here in the great mountains of Maryland. Leave the stress of life behind and join us next year for the brilliant fall foliage experience at Maryland’s favorite get away destination.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realto1884 Oakland Train Station-Deep Creek History
1884 Oakland Train Station
History Buffs, have I got something to share with you that is a mere 15 minutes up the road from Deep Creek Lake. Next time you are here at the lake get on 219 south and head to Oakland; you will be rewarded for your efforts once you get to the 1884 Oakland Train Station! This beautifully architected building is actually the 3rd building to occupy this location through the years. The first was a small two-story wooden building that was constructed after the railroad arrival in 1851. Unfortunately, a fire from the nearby Glades Hotel consumed the railway structure in 1874. During the interim, a one-story building was erected to serve as the train station until the current masterpiece was built in 1884. Original architect E. Francis Baldwin described his creation by using the term “Queen Anne Style”, which is highlighted by the rounded telegraph tower and roof that really gives the building its signature personality
1884 Oakland Train Station-Deep Creek History
The town of Oakland purchased the entire train station property in 1998. It has since become the center piece of Oakland’s “revitalization work” that was finished in 2000. There was a time in history when steam locomotives were the norm, and a 250,000 gallon water tank that stood 50’ tall occupied the East side of the station. It remained in tact until the 1920’s when it was de-constructed.
Oakland was once a very busy hub for transportation greeting 8 long distance express passenger trains a day in the 1940’s and 1950’s. During this time you could hail a train in St. Louisand be in Washingtonin in almost 24 hours. What a remarkable trip that must have been winding and carving through this amazing land at a wonderful time in history. Take your own trip back in time and try to put yourself back where the roar of the train whistle echoed through the foothills of beautiful Garrett Countyand the roots of train travel were paving the way to the industrial revolution.
