Looking for an Appalachian backyard adventure? Look no further. For over 25 years, Heritage Farms has been the place to celebrate Appalachian history and wildlife. Now you can celebrate, explore, and learn from 60 feet in the air.
“The best way to learn about wildlife is by visiting, exploring, and being in nature,” says Heritage Farm’s Wildlife Director, Rebekah Perry Franks. And what better way to visit and explore nature than being eye level with animals that are typically in trees? Explorers will be eye-level with squirrels, birds, insects, and other fascinating animals that you would typically miss if you were wandering around on the ground. The Treehouse Trek takes adventurers to new heights by way of a 750- foot series of bridges that sends you 60 feet high into the forest canopy. Offshoots of the bridges will allow participants to move their bodies like the native wildlife in West Virginia. By using ropes and planks, guests are challenged to balance like a chipmunk, climb like a raccoon, jump like a squirrel, perch like a bird, and hang like an opossum.
Heritage Farm Executive Director Audy Perry was inspired by his own past visits to a few different places that had sky and tree bridges. The Treehouse Trek was completed during the summer of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused large shutdowns across West Virginia, and the treehouse was completed in 2021.
There are two different canopies of bridges to choose from that come back together to meet at the Treehouse. What’s nice is that it makes it so that adults and kids can experience an adventure together even if they chose a different bridge because they both end up at the treehouse. If you choose to take the more adventurous route you’ll appreciate that you don’t have to crawl through the rope net tunnel. There is plenty of room for an adult to stand as they pass through which also makes it easier to follow closely behind younger kids.
Inside the treehouse, you have a few educational components and a photo opportunity. Make sure that you check out the wall that has a number assigned to each bird. Select a number on the device and you can hear the sound that the bird makes. Guests can enjoy the views of the farm from the treehouse and there are several binoculars available for guests to use to take a closer look at the surrounding nature. After you walk through the treehouse you’ll want to stop and enjoy the views from the Eagle’s nest that’s the same size as an average eagle’s nest.
The space can also function as a classroom, a presentation station, and more. For those who do not wish to climb 60 feet into the sky, there is a mile-and-a-half ground-level footpath trail system to walk and enjoy nature’s wonders. The trek is geared toward elementary-aged children and families.
