Ivy Lake in Forest donated to Liberty University

The donation of Ivy Lake in Forest to Liberty University was finalized Tuesday as the centerpiece of several recent land and monetary gifts to the college totaling more than $5 million.

“It’s exciting for Liberty University,” Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said after the school announced its acquisition of the roughly 115-acre, man-made lake Tuesday. “It’ll be a recruiting tool for us and a recreational opportunity for students. So we’re thrilled about the gift, and we deeply appreciate the generosity of the donors.”

Tom DeWitt, a Liberty alumnus and local land developer, bought the lake and other property in the surrounding Ivy Hill development in 2000 with partners Terry Dobyns and Richard Chaffin.

They had attempted to sell the lake to homeowners, DeWitt said Tuesday, but that deal was never finalized.

“Liberty is a great user for it because they’ll take care of the maintenance if anything ever arises; they have the resources to take care of it,” he said. “I think it’ll be a real good thing.”

Falwell said he plans to continue allowing residents to access the lake as usual.

“We’ll continue to do whatever (the previous owners) were doing,” he said. “We don’t want to upset anybody.”

Bob Bashore, an Ivy Hill resident who is on the board of the Ivy Lake Preservation Corporation, said Tuesday he and other members of the corporation had hoped to gain ownership of the lake. Bashore is a former county supervisor.

“That just kept bouncing around and didn’t get anywhere,” he said. “So I guess rather than giving it to us, they get a tax write off.”

He said the group had planned to keep up with the lake’s maintenance needs. Bashore also worried whether Liberty’s use of the lake would impede its use by residents in any way.

“It was built for the residents,” he said.

Valued at an estimated $2.5 million, the donation of about 125 acres includes the lake, Ivy Creek dam and spillway and a parking lot area with a boat ramp, DeWitt said.

Powerboats are not allowed on the lake, he said, but residents often use it for boating with a battery-operated or trolling motor, and fishing.

“Some of the people out there tell me it’s one of the best fishing lakes around,” he said.

Falwell said students could use the property for fishing, sailing and picnicking, or possibly forming a club crew team. The lake is about a 15-minute drive from LU’s main campus in Lynchburg.

Steve Arrington, chairman of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors, said he was happy to hear the news Tuesday.

“It does take me by surprise but that’s wonderful,” he said. “I’ve been a longtime supporter of Liberty and its mission statement, and I think it’s great.”

“The community has given a lot, and LU has given a lot back.”

Falwell said the university previously had hoped to expand its roughly six-acre Camp Hydaway Lake in Campbell County to 125 acres.

“We found that (with) the new state laws protecting wetlands and streams that it would have cost us about $16 million just in stream and wetland mitigation,” he said. “We had kind of given up on that idea, and this just came up out of the blue.”

Several others also have given to the school recently.

Local developer Bob Hughes recently donated a commercial lot adjacent to Applebee’s on Candlers Mountain Road worth about $1 million, Falwell said.

Across from that site sits another 6.5-acre lot valued at more than $700,000 that alumnus Glen Thomas recently donated.

Thomas also donated an additional $700,000 for the university’s new indoor soccer field, which currently is under construction.

Thomas and Iris Tilley, the parents of Falwell’s wife, Becki, recently donated $250,000 for the construction of the Tilley Student Center.

Jerry Falwell Jr. said many alumni are just reaching the age where they can afford to donate to the college, which paid off its final debts and started building an endowment in the past year.

“We’re excited about surviving long enough to see that day,” he said. “That’s a healthy sign for any college.”