Gaudineer Knob

Geobox|Summit
name = Gaudineer Knob
native_name =
other_name =
other_name1 =
topo_maker = USGS
topo_

range = Allegheny Mountains
parent = Shavers Mountain
category =

---

image_caption = View from Gaudineer Knob
etymology_type =
etymology =
country = United States
country_

state = West Virginia
state_

region_type = Counties
region = Pocahontas
region1 = Randolph
district_type =
district =
district1 =
district2 =
city =
city1 =
location =
lat_d = 38
lat_m = 36
lat_s = 55
lat_NS = N
long_d = 79
long_m = 50
long_s = 39
long_EW = W
elevation_imperial = 4432
elevation_round = 1
elevation_note = gnis|1554541|Gaudineer Knob]
prominence_imperial = 720
prominence_note = [cite web|url=http://www.peaklist.org/USlists/WV500.html|title=West Virginia Summits|publisher=PeakList.org|accessdate=2008-04-20]
area_unit = acre
area_imperial =
area_round = 1
area_note =
area1_imperial =
area1_type =
length_imperial =
length_orientation =
width_imperial =
width_orientation =
highest =
highest location =
highest_lat_d =
highest_lat_m =
highest_lat_s =
highest_lat_NS =
highest_long_d =
highest_long_m =
highest_long_s =
highest_long_EW =
highest_elevation_imperial =
lowest =
lowest_location =
lowest_lat_d =
lowest_lat_m =
lowest_lat_s =
lowest_lat_NS =
lowest_long_d =
lowest_long_m =
lowest_long_s =
lowest_long_EW =
lowest_elevation_imperial =
biome =
biome_share =
biome1 =
biome1_share =
geology =
geology1 =
plant =
plant1 =
animal =
animal1 =
access = drive-up via 27A
established_type =
established =
established_note =
established1_type =
established1 =
established1_note =
owner = USDA Forest Service
management = Monongahela National Forest
management_lat_d =
management_lat_m =
management_lat_s =
management_lat_NS =
management_long_d =
management_long_m =
management_long_s =
management_long_EW =
management_elevation =
visitation =
visitation_year =
free_type = Nearest city
free_label = Nearest city
free = Durbin, West Virginia
free1_type =
free1 =


map_caption = Location of Gaudineer Knob in West Virginia
map_locator = West Virginia
map_first =
website = [http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/sp/gaudineer.html Gaudineer Scenic Area]

Gaudineer Knob is a mountain summit on the Randolph/Pocahontas County line in eastern West Virginia, USA. It is the highest elevation (4,432 ft/1,351 m) of Shavers Mountain, a ridge of the Alleghenies, and is located about convert|1.7|mi east of the town of Cheat Bridge. The Gaudineer Knob Lookout Tower, an important US Forest Service (USFS) fire tower, formerly occupied the crown of the knob.

History

The knob had been a prominent, but unnamed, peak in a vast wilderness when in the late 1930s it was named in memory of Donald Gaudineer, one of the USFS’s early rangers in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF). As a young forester, Gaudineer had been assigned to the Southern District of the recently established MNF. His headquarters at that time occupied the former Craig Lumber Company office at Thornwood. During his years as ranger for the Greenbrier District, Gaudineer oversaw reforestation projects, the building of roads to enhance wildfire protection, the erection of fire towers in his district, and various other routine forest management activities. In the mid-1930s Gaudineer was transferred to the Cheat Ranger District, at Parsons, and on April 27, 1936, he was killed while attempting to rescue his children from a house fire. The USFS selected the scenic peak east of Cheat Bridge (in his former ranger district) as a fitting memorial. [cite journal|last=Carvell|first=Kenneth A.|date=September 1999|title=Gaudineer Knob and Its Namesake|journal=Wonderful West Virginia magazine|publisher=West Virginia Division of Natural Resources|volume=63|issue=11|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/sp/gaudineer.html|accessdate=2008-04-21]

Gaudineer Knob Lookout Tower

Only the concrete footers remain from the fire tower that from 1936 through 1950 surveyed the forest landscape surrounding Gaudineer Knob.

Gaudineer Scenic Area

The convert|140|acre|adj=on Gaudineer Scenic Area is situated immediately north of Gaudineer Knob at about convert|4000|ft elevation. It was established in 1964 and was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1974 owing to a convert|50|acre|adj=on virgin red spruce stand that was spared the lumberman’s saw when the surrounding countryside was clear-cut in the early 20th Century.

References