It is situated just north of Gaudineer Knob of Shavers Mountain on the border of Randolph and Pocahontas Counties, West Virginia, USA, about 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of the town of Durbin.

Maurice Brooks described the circumstances whereby a portion of the virgin forest was spared in his classic book on Appalachian natural history: Some years before the Civil War a speculating land company bought a tract of 69,000 acres [280 km2] on the slope of Shavers Mountain.

The crew did a good job, but its chief forgot one thing – the fact that a compass needle points to magnetic, not true north.

Presently, however, when the sale was being concluded and the deeds recorded, he brought the error to light, and under a sort of "doctrine of vacancy" claimed the wedge of land left by a corrected survey.

[4] In May 1983 it was registered by the Society of American Foresters as an outstanding example of a vegetative community in a near natural condition dedicated for scientific and educational purposes.