Tucked into the heart of Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands and riding the spine of Chestnut Ridge, this 492± acre sportsman's sanctuary in Ligonier Township offers a rare combination of scale, water, and world-class wildlife habitat - all at a fraction of the cost of comparable unrestricted acreage.

A professionally executed select-harvest completed a few years ago released the forest canopy across the tract, sparking an explosion of early successional growth. Sunlight now reaches the forest floor, and the result is a mosaic of native plants, thick cover, and thousands of stump sprouts - the exact high-value browse that whitetail, black bear, and turkey seek out. The habitat diversity here is incredible; edge, cover, and food are woven together across the entire property, and the wildlife has responded in kind. For the serious hunter, this is a purpose-built big-woods paradise where deer, bear, and turkey have everything they need to hold and thrive year-round.

Water is the crown jewel. The tract boasts roughly a half mile of Trout Run, a designated High Quality, Cold Water stream, along with three additional tributaries that feed the Latrobe watershed. Cold, clean, and constant, these headwaters support wild trout and anchor one of the most important conservation watersheds in the region - a living asset you will not find on ordinary hunting ground.

What truly sets this offering apart is how you can own it. The property is protected under a conservation easement held by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy - and that protection is precisely what makes this scale of ownership attainable. The easement dramatically reduces the cost of entry, allowing a buyer to acquire a landscape-scale recreational property and a private building site for a fraction of what unencumbered ground of this caliber would command. It is the rare chance to own big acreage the way it should be owned: wild, protected, and priced within reach.

And you can build. Approximately 13 acres along Matson Road are set aside for a future home. Once on-lot septic testing is completed, the building envelope refines to a 4± acre residential site - your private basecamp inside nearly a half-thousand acres of your own wild country. Picture a cabin or home overlooking released timber and running water, with a lifetime of trails at your back door and deer and turkey moving through the regrowth below.

The conservation overlay also delivers something increasingly rare and valuable: permanent protection from natural gas extraction. Fracking and surface extraction are prohibited by any means now in use or yet to be discovered, insulating your investment - and this pristine watershed - from industrial disturbance forever. In an era of shrinking wild places, that permanence is a form of value all its own.

An established network of interior trails traverses the property, opening access to every ridge, hollow, and stream crossing for hunting, hiking, horseback riding, and quiet exploration. Whether you are slipping into a morning stand, scouting fresh sign in the regrowth, or simply walking your own ground, this land invites you deeper. And it all sits in the storied Ligonier Valley, minutes from the shops and restaurants of Ligonier and the year-round recreation of the Laurel Highlands, yet a world away the moment you turn off Matson Road.

Opportunities of this scale, water quality, and habitat richness rarely reach the market in the Laurel Highlands - and almost never at this kind of value. This is a legacy property: a place to hunt, to build, to conserve, and to hand down for generations. Come walk it and see firsthand what a few years of thoughtful stewardship has created along Chestnut Ridge.

Offered exclusively by Whitetail Properties. This listing is private property and is shown by advanced scheduled showings. Contact us today to schedule yours.