Ice Mountain is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

ridge and algific talus slope that is part of a preserve near the community of North River Mills in

Hampshire County, West Virginia Hampshire County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 23,093. Its county seat is Romney, West Virginia, Romney, West Virginia's oldest town ( ...

, United States. It was designated a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

in 2012. Ice Mountain is protected by

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

and open for visits by small groups of hikers. It is nicknamed "Nature's Ice Box" and "Nature's Refrigerator" owing to its ice vents that release cool air all year long.

Refrigeration

The accumulated rock detritus at Ice Mountain's base forms a talus that is thick in some places. It creates a

refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

effect. As cold air sinks into the talus pile during the cooler months it forms masses of ice and ice vents inside it. The ice vents are in a section about in length along Ice Mountain's southern flank. Cool air is expelled from the ice in the warmer months. Vent air temperatures vary throughout the year, but the mean annual temperature can be as low as 2 °C (35 °F). Within the area of ice vents there are approximately 60 different pockets and the cold air escapes through more than 150 small openings in the talus. The cool air affects surrounding air and soil around creating an area of boreal species and plant growth. Studies of Ice Mountain's geology, geomorphology, and micro-climatology since 2000 have shown that ice is no longer apparent after early June, but it is unclear whether this disappearance is due to climate change or the abandonment of historic ice storage strategies.

Flora

Ice Mountain's ice vents provide a habitat for boreal species of plants commonly found in Subarctic regions. The

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

exhibits a combination of Appalachian, Canadian, and Subarctic species in a humid subtropical climate. Northern boreal species have survived at Ice Mountain since the last

glacial period A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

and became isolated over time as temperatures warmed and relegated the boreal species to the Subarctic regions of North America. The cool air expulsed by the ice vents allowed boreal species to remain at Ice Mountain. Ice Mountain's boreal species are not only unique because of their isolated location, but also because of their elevation. Boreal species are typically found at elevations

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

, but species at Ice Mountain survive at heights around above mean sea level. Boreal species at Ice Mountain include bunchberry (''Cornus canadensis''), Appalachian wood fern (''Gymnocarpium appalachianum''), Canada mayflower (''Maianthemum canadense''), minniebush (''Menziesia pilosa''), mountain maple (''Acer spicatum''), nannyberry (''Viburnum lentago''), northern bedstraw (''Galium boreale''), prickly gooseberry (''Ribes cynosbati''), prickly rose (''Rosa acicularis''), purple virgin's bower (''Clematis occidentalis''), shale barren primrose (''Oenothera argillicola''), skunk currant (''Ribes glandulosum''), starflower (''Trientalis borealis''), and

twinflower ''Linnaea'' is a plant genus in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. Until 2013, the genus included a single species, ''Linnaea borealis''. In 2013, on the basis of molecular phylogenetic evidence, the genus was expanded to include species f ...

(''Linnaea borealis'').

Eastern Hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

s (''Tsuga canadensis'') provide shade to and cool the mountain's ice vents. The Appalachian wood fern, which grows on moss, was once thought to have been extinct but is found in abundance near the cold vents at the base of Ice Mountain. Parts of Ice Mountain are barren, but the majority of the ridge is covered in mountain laurel (''Kalmia latifolia''),

sweet birch ''Betula lenta'' (sweet birch, also known as black birch, cherry birch, mahogany birch, or spice birch) is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario, and south in the Appalachian Mounta ...

(''Betula lenta''), and

Virginia pine ''Pinus virginiana'', the Virginia pine, scrub pine, Jersey pine, Possum pine, is a medium-sized tree, often found on poorer soils from Long Island in southern New York south through the Appalachian Mountains to western Tennessee and Alabama. T ...

(''Pinus virginiana'').

Old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

species include

chestnut oak ''Quercus montana'', the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus''. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest ...

(''Quercus prinus''), sweet birch (''Betula lenta''), and Eastern white pine (''Pinus strobus''). Ice Mountain's tree canopy also consists of

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the prim ...

(''Acer saccharum''), American tulip poplar (''Liriodendron tulipifera''), shagbark hickory (''Carya ovata''), eastern black oak (''Quercus velutina''), black gum (''Nyssa sylvatica''),

American sycamore ''Platanus occidentalis'', also known as American sycamore, American planetree, western plane, occidental plane, buttonwood, and water beech, is a species of ''Platanus'' native to the eastern and central United States, the mountains of northeas ...

(''Platanus occidentalis''),

black cherry ''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the ...

(''Prunus serotina''), linden (''Tilia americana''), white ash (''Fraxinus americana''), and black walnut (''Juglans nigra''). West Virginia's state flower, the American rhododendron (''Rhododendron maximum''), grows in thick clusters along the lower mountainside of Ice Mountain.

Fauna

Ice Mountain provides habitats for breeding neotropical birds including

warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers Th ...

vireo The vireos make up a family, Vireonidae, of small to medium-sized passerine birds found in the New World (Canada to Argentina, including Bermuda and the West Indies) and Southeast Asia. "Vireo" is a Latin word referring to a green migrato ...

s, and thrushes as well as various types of birds common in the central

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. Ice Mountain also serves as a habitat for bald eagles and ravens, which nest in the mountain's Raven Rocks outcrop named for them. Other bird species include

American goldfinch The American goldfinch (''Spinus tristis'') is a small North American bird in the finch family. It is migratory, ranging from mid-Alberta to North Carolina during the breeding season, and from just south of the Canada–United States border t ...

(''Carduelis tristis''),

great crested flycatcher The great crested flycatcher (''Myiarchus crinitus'') is a large insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. It is the most widespread member of the genus ''Myiarchus'' in North America, and is found over most of the eastern and mid-west ...

(''Myiarchus crinitus''),

indigo bunting The indigo bunting (''Passerina cyanea'') is a small seed-eating bird in the cardinal family, Cardinalidae. It is migratory, ranging from southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to northern Sout ...

(''Passerina cyanea''),

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members wit ...

(''Buteo jamaicensis''), and American black (''Coragyps atratus'') and

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

(''Cathartes aura'') vultures.

Conservation

The Nature Conservancy, with the help of volunteers, has worked to control non-native invasive species to protect and preserve Ice Mountain's rare and native plant species. These invasive species include

tree of heaven ''Ailanthus altissima'' , commonly known as tree of heaven, ailanthus, varnish tree, or in Chinese as ''chouchun'' (), is a deciduous tree in the family Simaroubaceae. It is native to northeast and central China, and Taiwan. Unlike other memb ...

(''Ailanthus altissima''),

garlic mustard ''Alliaria petiolata'', or garlic mustard, is a Biennial plant, biennial flowering plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, north-western Africa, Morocco, Iberian Peninsula, Iberia and the ...

(''Alliaria petiolata''), and Japanese stilt grass (''Microstegium vimineum''). The Nature Conservancy has also partnered with the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

to prevent the deaths of

eastern hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

s (''Tsuga canadensis'') due to the

hemlock woolly adelgid The hemlock woolly adelgid (; ''Adelges tsugae''), or HWA, is an insect of the order Hemiptera (true bugs) native to East Asia. It feeds by sucking sap from hemlock and spruce trees (''Tsuga'' spp.; ''Picea'' spp.). In its native range, HWA ...

. The Nature Conservancy has worked with

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

geologists to preserve and prevent the mountain's ice vents from succumbing to effects associated with

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. The melting of the ice vents warms the soil's temperature which threatens the survival of the boreal species that thrive there. The Nature Conservancy also continues to monitor the natural forest regeneration in the areas of Ice Mountain affected by a 2008

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

. Guided hikes on Ice Mountain are offered on North River Mills and Ice Mountain Day in May and by appointment April through November.

Geography and geology

Ice Mountain is an arc-shaped forested ridge of the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

, part of the

Ridge-and-valley Appalachians The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending ...

. It is above mean sea level at its summit. Ice Mountain is a large mass of Devonian Oriskany (Ridgeley)

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

and Marcellus shale with numerous bare rock slopes and vertical cliffs. Ice Mountain lies on the west side of the Timber Mountain

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

and to the west of North Mountain fault, which places it on the Martinsburg

allochthon upright=1.6, Schematic overview of a thrust system. The hanging wall block is (when it has reasonable proportions) called a nappe. If an erosional hole is created in the nappe that is called a window (geology)">window. A klippe is a solitary out ...

ous sheet. Ice Mountain is situated along North River and is known for the several hundred yards of ice that form at its base all year long. At its southern end overlooking the community of North River Mills is located Raven Rocks, a set of stone chimney

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

s. Raven Rocks is in height above mean sea level with vertical cliffs measuring nearly in height. Raven Rocks were named because of the presence of ravens during pioneer days. The present Raven Rocks is the remaining vestige of a once towering cliff that overlooked the North River. Geologically, Ice Mountain is a northern extension of North River Mountain.

History

Ice Mountain has played a significant role in the history of the North River Mills community. Among Ice Mountain's earliest descriptions are mentions in Henry Howe's ''History of Virginia'' (1845) and in a '' Silliman's Journal'' article by Charles Hayden from the same year. Ice Mountain was also detailed in

Hu Maxwell Hu Maxwell (September 22, 1860, Saint George, Virginia (now West Virginia) — August 20, 1927, Evanston, Illinois) was a local historian, novelist, editor, poet, and author of several histories of West Virginia counties. Biography Maxwell was ...

and Howard Llewellyn Swisher's ''History of Hampshire County, West Virginia: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present'' (1897), O. F. Morton's ''History of Hampshire County'' (1910), and Homer Floyd Fansler's "Ice Mountain: Nature's Deep Freeze" in the July 1959 issue of ''West Virginia Conservation''. The mountain was also featured in the April 1861 edition of '' Harper's New Monthly Magazine''. The ''Harper's'' publishing company sent the article to the ''

Winchester Star ''The Winchester Star'' is a daily newspaper (Monday-Friday) based in Winchester, Virginia covering the Shenandoah Valley area. Subscribers may choose from either the print edition or a downloadable edition of the newspaper. On March 6, 2018, it ...

'' where it appeared in their October 10, 1962, issue. Ice Mountain earned its nicknames "Nature's Ice Box" and "Nature's Refrigerator" because of its use by Native Americans and early settlers for storage of perishable food items during the warmer months of the year. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, Ice Mountain was used as a lookout point while the surrounding area served as the scene of numerous small skirmishes. Thomas McMackin's Confederate militia company camped alongside North River at the base of Raven Rocks, where a sentinel was placed from daybreak to dusk. Around the late 19th and early 20th centuries, North River Mills residents would celebrate Independence Day and other occasions as late as September by digging up ice from the talus for the making of ice cream and lemonade. The mountain had through generations been owned by the Deaver family, the last of which was Mrs. Virginia Pugh. On September 22, 1962 Hampshire County farmer Otis Baker purchased the Ice Mountain and an adjacent for $23,000 at a public auction at the Hampshire County Courthouse in Romney. Ice Mountain was purchased by The Nature Conservancy in 1991.

West Virginia state historical marker

Ice Mountain Historical Marker Augusta WV 2014 10 05 01

The text of the historical marker located at the U.S. Route 50/ West Virginia Route 29 wye fork between Augusta and Pleasant Dale reads the following:

References

External links

* * * *
A Geological and Geophysical Investigation of Ice Mountain Algific Talus, Hampshire County, West Virginia

* ttp://www.historichampshire.org/aerial/ice-air.htm Historic Hampshire: Aerial View of Ice Mountain
Ice Mountain Plant List
{{authority control Algific talus slopes American Civil War sites in West Virginia Ridges of Hampshire County, West Virginia Hampshire County, West Virginia, in the American Civil War Ice caves Ridges of West Virginia Nature Conservancy preserves Nature reserves in West Virginia Protected areas of Hampshire County, West Virginia Rock formations of West Virginia National Natural Landmarks in West Virginia IUCN Category V