Alpine Lake, West Virginia

Alpine Lake
Unincorporated community
Country	United States
State	West Virginia
County	Preston
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)

Alpine Lake is a private, gated community located in Preston County, West Virginia, United States. It lies to the south of White Oak Springs and northeast of Terra Alta, West Virginia. On one side, the community runs along the actual border line between West Virginia and Maryland. The town of Oakland, Maryland (The county seat of Garrett County, Maryland) is also relatively close by.

Alpine Lake is a 2,300-acre (9.3 km²) planned community with several hundred 1/2 acre building lots, a private paved road system, its own public water and sewer system, and a number of restrictive covenants running with the land which are designed to preserve the natural setting. To date, just under 500 homes have been built at Alpine Lake.

The community is built into a series of heavily-wooded hills surrounding a large, 160-acre (0.65 km²) artificial lake. To preserve the tranquil mountain setting, no gasoline-powered boats are permitted on Alpine Lake. In addition to the large lake, other amenities of the community include an 18 hole golf course (open to the public along with a mini putt course), a large community lodge with a restaurant and bar, a motel, tennis courts, extensive hiking and cross-country skiing trails, and a beach.

Other amenities nearby include Deep Creek Lake and Wisp Ski Resort.

The community at Alpine Lake is diverse. For many residents, their Alpine Lake home is a second, vacation home, allowing them weekend escapes from either Baltimore/Washington or Pittsburgh. Other owners are retired and live at Alpine Lake year-round or during the summer. Baltimore, Washington DC and Pittsburgh are all 3 hours or less by car from Alpine Lake.

The weather at Alpine Lake is typically quite mild in the summer. The relatively high altitude (c. 2,800 ft (850 m) above sea level) tends to keep temperatures moderate. However, winters can be very severe, with extensive snow and extremely low temperatures. Prevailing weather patterns run west to east in this area, and as weather systems run into the mountains, turbulent weather patterns can often result. Summer thunderstorms at Alpine Lake can be particularly spectacular.

At one time, Alpine Lake operated a small ski slope. However, the ski operation at Alpine Lake was dismantled several years ago, mainly for insurance reasons. The former ski slope has not been allowed to return to woods, and the top of the old ski slope faces west and remains an excellent place to watch the sun set over the mountains and the lake below. The former ski slope is currently being used as a driving range throughout the day.

• [Alpine Lake Community Website]

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