Click on this image of the POA plat map to see a larger version of the file showing the plots across the community.
Our Cacapon South community history is rooted in the love our founders had for the beautiful and vibrant Panhandle region of West Virginia.
The story reaches back to the 1980s. That’s when a part-time resident at the nearby Woods Resort discovered and grew fond of Berkeley Springs, during his weekend commutes from Maryland.
As it happened, this vacation homeowner, Patrick McCuan, also owned a development company based in Columbia, MD called MDG. His interest in the town would turn from personal to professional.
When McCuan met Margaret Malmstedt, the owner of Tuscarora Realty, the origin of Cacapon South began to take shape.
The chalet office where it all started
Malmstedt’s office was located directly across Rte. 522 from the entrance to Cacapon Resort State Park. This chalet office sat on 210 acres of land owned by Marjorie Dawson. McCuan made a successful offer to purchase this land, and plans for building the community began.
First, the land was surveyed and platted into 146 single-family lots. Next, a local builder cleared and constructed roads and built a log home near the entrance, which became the sales office through 2007. Utilities followed, and a Morgantown, WV company called Ashco-A designed the waste-treatment system and installed the first four cells.
Later, while leaving Cacapon Resort State Park in 1997, Roger Salen also met Margaret Malmstedt at her office. She showed him the plats, talked about McCuan’s 210-acre property, and suggested they connect.
When the two men first met at the log-home sales office where they both had discovered the property, they began discussions about the future of the development. By December that very year, a contract between MDG and Salen & Company, Inc, was signed and the future of the Cacapon South community was set into motion.
A Community develops beautifully
Salen was responsible for total site development. This included not only marketing and sales, but also liaison with MDG’s Columbia office and other key stakeholders, such as the Morgan County Planning Commission and Health Department, the Chamber of Commerce, and Home Builder/Realtor Associations.
Growth begins in earnest:
- 2000: As sales pick up, Salen adds several sales associates to his team. The business partners decided to establish MDG Realty of WV.
- 2001: Property owners begin serving on the POA Board of Directors alongside the Developer’s representatives.
- 2002: The community continues improvements with paved roads, entrance and site landscaping, and personalized signs on sold properties that identified the owners and their hometowns.
An award-winning community
When MDG was nominated by the local Eastern Panhandle Home Builders’ Association for its development of Cacapon South this goal was within reach. Soon after, in 2000, the state-level Home Builders’ Association of West Virginia bestowed its “Best in West Virginia” award on Cacapon South. The category: “Residential Development of the Year.”
With this award, McCuan achieved his longtime aspiration: recognition for the community that MDG and Salen & Company, Inc. built together.
Key Transition Years
2006: The Board of Directors became entirely made up of property owners, and accordingly all management duties of the POA were turned over to the property owners.
2007: Developer MDG ceased its accounting services for the POA, which then began contracting billing and bookkeeping duties locally with BTM Close CPAs. The POA has operated in the black ever since.
Our POA today
Today the POA has a vibrant community of over 100 property owners, with all but one lot sold. Both part-time and full-time residents continue to name their properties and place personalized signs out front. Property owners consider themselves fortunate to call Cacapon South their home – or “home away from home.” Many of those who live here year-round call it their “forever home”.