By Heather Clower
The Parsons Advocate
Big dreams and plans are calling Tucker County home thanks to Alan Goldberg and four time academy award winning musician and composer Gerry Math.
Goldberg, originally from New York, is an extensive traveler.
For the last two years, he has been traveling and living in his RV, and for the two years prior, lived on a sail boat up and down the coast. Goldberg said, “We found this place by accident and we fell in love”. His wife is a gourmet chef, and they were traveling from Frankfort, Kentucky to Maine for a position. They ended up staying in Weston, where they met several locals who recommended they attend the Ramps and Rails Festival in Elkins. “Sure, I knew what ramps and rails were. Rails must have something to do with trains, and ramps are something you pull a car up on”, joked Goldberg as he explained the uniqueness our area possesses. From there they fell even more in love with the location and people and bought approximately one hundred and thirty acres on Pheasant Mountain sight unseen.
Goldberg met his friend, Gerry Math, in New Orleans, La. and told him about the property. At first, Math was hesitant towards Goldberg’s excitement and description of the property, so he made the trip up himself and loved it just as much, and quickly they became partners. “There’s absolutely nothing like this anywhere in the world”, exclaimed Goldberg.
The intentions are to put in a bed and breakfast as well as ten to twenty cabins. “My intentions are to make this one of the top ten resorts in the world”, continued Goldberg. “The scenery is gorgeous. There are only a couple world class retreats in the United States, and they’re not as good as this.” When asked if they had a timeframe in mind for breaking ground or an opening date, Goldberg sincerely explained, “To lay out a plan would be unfair to the higher power who makes this stuff”. They plan to wait until fall to see what it looks like then. Both Goldberg and Math are very sincere about maintaining the natural beauty their property has to offer and they want to do it justice. “It can’t be laid out on paper, we have to go slow”, he added. Several amenities are bouncing around as considerations to offer at their up and coming resort, but Goldberg reiterated, “We own half a mountain, a backhoe, and a dream”. They are obviously very excited with big plans, but are still in the very beginning stages.
As the evening continued, Math put on a quaint performance for the locals in the area. Math is a world renowned composer and concert pianist, winning four Academy Awards for his work on four films: Titanic, Forrest Gump, Legends of the Fall, and Last of the Mohicans. He has also composed for nearly a dozen other pictures, toured with the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia, played for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, and performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London for the Queen’s birthday. Math is quite the talented musician, as just in an open field in Pheasant, surrounded by a handful of locals, demonstrated his abilities on the keyboard, violin, cello, and pan flute.
In the crowd was Pheasant resident Shirley Surguy. When asked what she thought about the plans for the resort, she stated, “I am for anything that helps our community and anything to bring more employment to our locals”. She continued to say in regarding to Math, “I’m glad he chose this area to come to, it’s nice to have some culture brought into us. His knowledge of music is fabulous and he’s a very down to earth guy that will bring a lot to our community”. “It is good for us to have someone with his education in our midst”.
Hopefully we will be able to see Goldberg and Math’s dreams take shape to help bring a lot to our small community. It is always nice to see rural areas bringing in new people who appreciate what Tucker County has to offer as much as the locals do.
