After 26 years of living off the land, and teaching scores of people about the American Heritage way of getting back to nature, Eustace Conway, who was featured on featured on The History Channel’s Mountain Men, has been forced to close his nature school.
Eustace, who purchased a large amount of land outside Boone, N.C., has been using his land to teach people how to live closer to nature. But now, thanks to government officials who don’t agree with his lifestyle, Eustace is being forced to fight for his way of life and to keep his school open.
Like many of the stories we’ve covered over the last couple of years, Eustace is another in a long string of people who are being “zoned” out of existence. From the heartbreaking story of Andrew Wordes, who took his life after code enforcement teams seized his home, to the Off-Gridders in California who are being illegally forced back on to the grid, what’s happening to Eustace seems to be a calculated attack on anyone who dares live a self-sufficient lifestyle.
It’s really sickening when you look into what’s really going on. We have government officials across our land who are threatening people, arresting them, and forcibly taking their land; and for what?
When did it become acceptable for the government to intimidate someone off their land? When did it become acceptable for the government to tell us how we can live on our own land? These aren’t people living in some urban area, where you might be able to make a case for zoning ordinances; these are people who live in rural areas of the country on large plots of land.
In the case of Eustace Conway, this is a man who lives on a large plot of rural land who isn’t doing anything to disturb anyone in any way. Yet county officials have literally shut him down and told him he can’t teach people how to live off the land unless he makes changes that would go against his way of life.
Here is his Story:
Government Crack Down on Self-Reliance and Liberty
While some dismiss these cases as localized issues, I believe they’re part of a larger movement to control the way Americans live. What we are seeing here is a coordinated attack on traditional American values and an all out assault on the self-reliant lifestyle.
I think evidence of this can be seen:
- In the federal government’s attempts to regulate small farms out of existence
- In their use of the EPA to seize private land
- In the formation of the Department of Homeland Security’s Green Police Force
- In their attempts to seize control of the Great Lakes, oceans, and waterways
- In the countless number of people who are being forced back onto the grid through “zoning laws”
- and in their use of organizations like The National League of Cities to take control of local governments.
All of the so-called reality shows are staged and scripted. The History Channel’s “Mountain Men” is one of the stupidest shows on TV. This guy Eustice lives near Boone, NC which is not isolated or in any remote area, but is easy assessible by many paved roads. Hardly a mountain man, but more like a hillbilly, or derelict I’m so sick of hearing how the law is going to take his land away from him,from not paying his taxes. WHO GIVES A FUCK!
Everything on TV is called Entertainment. That’s all it is. Most of these shows are scripted and produced to entertain all of us and keep tuning in every week. Its all about the $$$$$ for these stations and corporate sponsors.
Actually …it is called PROGRAMMING
and it is done for exactly the same reason
Programming!
Not saying I am right or wrong, or that my facts are 100% correct, but here is what I have gathered about Eustace. He seems like a well meaning guy and I don’t think he is a fraud. That being said he has, allegedly, committed a couple of crimes. One presented on the show was not paying property taxes, but according to what I have dug up it’s not because he just didn’t pay. Allegedly, someone lost an eye during some ssort of accident on his property. There was a lawsuit and a settlement. Allegedly, he did not pay the settlement so the lawyer put a lien on his land so he either has to pay up, or the county will seize the land as payment on the lien. Now enter the county. For one, they have to enforce this settlement., Secondly, if this injury occurred at his camp then someone went out to investigate. I can’t find many details about this part. Maybe it was due to a faulty structure and that’s when they went on a tear to shut his camp down. I don’t know, but I do know someone was injured there and this is not a simple property tax issue. I think it is being misrepresented on the show to make him out to be a victim. Enter incident number two. This guy has neighbor problems. He doesn’t think anyone should live anywhere near him, even if he doesn’t own the property. So he gets arrested for 2nd degree trespassing. His neighbor is afraid of him. This guy may legitimately live off the land, but it doesn’t mean he can ignore building codes if he wants to run a business there, especially if it results in a serious bodily injury. Nor can you harrass your neighbors without consequence. He obstructed their only means of leaving their home at one point, allegedly, and that is why he got arrested for tresspassing on their land again. He may live off the land, but he needs to respect others.
Also, let’s not forget that this is a college educated guy. Look at his website, he makes a decent lving off those camps. This whole “I’m just a fish out of water” business is a front. He knows what a lien is, he just doesn’t want to pay because he doesn’t believe in the legal system or being responsible for your actions. He also takes advantage of a lot of free slave lavbor on his property calling it “internships”.
finally somebody who gets it this guy is a fake
AJ has it right but there is more. It’s not about how Eustace lives, it’s about his running a tourist attraction and so-called school without proper sanitation and safety considerations. People who have interned there say he does not walk his talk. He does not live off the land and he is not a good steward of the land. Most of Turtle Island is hidden from the public and even the county inspectors had not, in previous visits, seen the things for which he was finally shut down. Hidden from view are numerous junk vehicles, collapsing trailers and heaps of garbage all just decaying into the ground. He treats his buildings with used motor oil which runs into the ground along with gasoline and battery acid. Turtle Island, according to those who have worked there, actually produces almost none of its own food but depends on donations and collecting half rotted fruit and veggies from super market dumpsters in Boone. The horses are for show and giving buggy rides to donors, he owns trucks, tractors and a backhoe for real work. He has just scammed his way through life and now he has been caught. Check out the Turtle Island website and see for yourself what he charges for the “teaching” he gives, the cheapest is $90 for a workshop on how to carve a wooden spoon.
Conway was not shut down because of how he lives but because he was running a tourist attraction and so called school, serving food and providing lodging without observing proper health and safety standards. He can live there as long as he wants and any way he wants but you can’t have thousands of people using the woods as a latrine without creating a stink so to speak. His financial problems are not about taxes as claimed but about his not paying a law suit for a child who lost an eye on his property. He does not get along with his neighbors and has been arrested for trespass because he seems to think he has some right to tell them what they can or cannot do on their property. How is it that a person who lives off grid has his own website? Check “Turtle Island Preserve”. Eustace Conway and Turtle Island are in fact nothing like what is presented on TV. The county was right to shut him down, they were only remiss in not doing it sooner.
its funny to me that people like you see problems with this, but not with the GMO Monsanto monsters. Did we always have toilets, electricity and plumbing? the government says this man isnt running a healthy environment, but anyone can take their children to McDonalds for every meal of the day with no backlash, to feed them poison…they want his land to develop it, period. i suppose your just another ignorant government charlie…and who cares if it isnt what TV shows? neither is jersey shore…you, or nobody else, has the right to tell this man what he can do on his own land. at least he isnt aborting children, or marrying gays and lesbians on it, thank God. But THAT would be acceptable…
We didn’t always have toilets, and we also didn’t always have hundreds of people using the same area as a toilet. That sort of behavior was responsible for millions of deaths in England. Recall that people used to throw their chamber pots right into the streets? We have certain laws for good reasons. Humans used to do many things, and the life expectancy followed suit.
so,is this why NYC is making it legal to urinate in he streets,population control?So millions can die of diseases.
I am all for living off the grid and being self sufficient. I’ve been doing it for over 25 years. Eustace Conway is a complete fraud. Plain and simple.
You’ve been living off the grid for 25 years? …yet you somehow managed to post that comment stating that he’s a “complete fraud.” Isn’t that the case of the kettle calling the pot black?
living off the grid does not mean living without electricity and such. It is not being connected to the controllers, being independent. I can live off the grid and still have all the latest electronics and technologies except of coarse hard line cable. ect…. ect… ect…
Wow…. Just wow…. Are you really this stupid or are you just saying this stuff to get a rise out of someone? First off to suggest that it’s okay for human waste from countless people to just be spread around and not collected and treated in a waste management facility is mind blowingly retarded. Secondly you’re saying that this person has no right to tell anyone what they can and can’t do and yet you’re saying it’s wrong to abort a fetus or have a gay marriage which makes you a hypocrite. Thirdly there is a certain standard that you have to meet to open your place to the public and if you don’t meet them then you don’t need to be open to the public. God I wish your parents approved of abortion and participated in it that way there would be one less imbecile in this world.
Talk about hypocrite; you are the utltimate hiypoctrate!
Abortion and gay marriage IS wrong!
New York is passing a law that you can urinate any place you want.
Abortion? Really you are scum. You are proof that abortions can live. Can’t wait till the electrical grid goes down permanently, then the population of dumbasses will decline drastically and only the strong will be left standing.
Wow is right… John is a little sheltered from reality I would say. People have crapped in the woods for centuries and still do from in many places. Surely you know that you dig a hole… you don’t just crap in the middle of your path. at some point you cover the hole up and dig another. secondly aborting fetus IS wrong and no you have no right to tell me what to do on my land. Thirdly, I might agree to a certain point with you but the public is not being forced onto his land. It is there option. They know what they are getting into when they come so let them deal with it. And for the record I keep seeing where New York made it legal to urinate in public… that is not entirely true. They are currently looking at the possibility of removing it from being a criminal offense and treated more like a “misdemeanor” just to free up the criminal courts. People would still get arrested for it but would simply pay their fine and move on.
Farmers in Ohio go to waste treatment plants and get the sludge (human feces) to spread on their crops as fertilizer so tell me again how he’s breaking laws
John you clearly would of better served this country if you were just swallowed by your mother in the first place. THEN we would of had one less imbucil in this country.
North Carolina turned into California when all the intellectuals moved in. I’m a 60 year old Texan and noticed this 20 years ago when I was chosen to attend a graduate seminar on the southern novel in the southern community at UNC. I was shocked at how pro-government and political everyone was, and nobody was from NC. It’s like Austin which is completely foreign to most Texans. There is still a rural USA that wouldn’t put up with gov’t over-reaching; the city of Houston has NO zoning laws. You can build a synagogue next to a day care center next to a strip club next to a Baptist Church next to a liquor store next to a halfway house for parolees next to a multi-million dollar hotel. You can go fishing in the storm drains.
grubpubert , hilarious comment . You had me laughing out loud …
That’s a bunch of horse poo. I’ve lived in NC since 1979 and it’s nothing like CA. Open carry? Not in CA. Own AR-15s with high capacity magazines? Not in CA. Own a suppressor? Not in CA. BTW you can do all those things in NC. Get a grip. Mulder can’t help you.
You are so right no one should tell him Jack shit about what he can and can’t do on his land
Then u would hate what my Virginia county told me. I cannot camp legally on my own farm at all, ever, unless I pay $1,350.00 for a commercial campground permit. We sued and LOST! Google Ferguson Rutherford camping Isle of Wight, and read my story. ALL of us who hate this kind of crap need to stand up and fight back, en masse. Right now they are picking us off one by one and we are not winning!
Give them what they want eustice, every time you roll into town for sugar salt and flour, go to city hall, and take a big ole dump in their crapper….save it up for days on end, scrunch your cheeks up, hold it in buddy! don’t hit any big pot holes on the road…wouldn’t wanna lose that bad boy before you reach the drop zone…be sure to eat beans the night before, and drink some watered down grits in the morning while the ole truck is warming up. march yourself right down to the city hall crapper, and drop duke pal. let em know that theyre missing out on some backwoods doody aroma in that podunk little town. leave em somethin that’ll debreeze febreeze…be sure to write on the stall wall for a good time, call your gay loving uncle sam…bunch of scallywags…city slicker dip doodles got no business creepin around in the woods on your property nohow! save gas, and build yourself a catapult, and name it hooflungpoo, and put a made in china sticker on it….just to throw em off a little eh?
go back to obozo fantasy babylon commi pig
That’s really uncalled for and only shows an immaturity unbecoming any human being.
Well another case of the government running everyone and no such thing as freedom of nothing! Its getting to where our hertidge is going out of sight and the ones who are trying to keep it alive is getting run off people can’t live in peace cause no one can leave anyone alone its getting to where a person can’t spit without the government sticking their nose in it or someone telling you can’t sit on your on porch ,its getting crazy !!! People don’t like what Eustace does don’t watch the show the remote does go to other channels no ones twisting anyone’s arm to watch it!!!!
and your statement just proves your a leftist control freak who only ‘thinks’ he is above others and their right as living men to speak their minds. You are part of the mental minority of lunatic fringe murderous leftist liberals I bet. mindless emotional control freaking arse openings who badly portray faux morals while they meddle in the liuves of people far more superior then their insignificant selves. And if my statement butt hurt you to much.. go buy some Preparation H and use the whole box to subdue that inflamed grey mass u call call a brain. arrogant ignorant panty waisted twinkie. Grow the hell up and get out of your mom’s basement.
oh my god liberal brain at work. WTF are you to say teaching how to live off grid needs to have running water and (certified) sewage treatment? I have lived of the grid without these things..solar and wind electric and solar waste composition. My foot print is 1 millionth of what yours has been, and will be till and after the grid collapses. If a child lost an eye on his property the child should sue its parents. and you can have thousands of people in the woods using latrines and they wont stink except within a few feet of them.. your concrete cave bathroom stinks worse between cleanings..you just dont notice it because you havent fresh air venting it 24/7 so you become immune to the smell. Great thing about off grid living..is we dont have to drink the water we deficate in like ‘griddles’ do. And arrogant ignorance is epic. 11 years of off grid living and I have had internet that i can run all nite and a jeep that runs off of wood gassification. food is abundant in the wild both plant and animal and growning veggies without poisons has cured many of my pre off grid life’s ails. so do us a favor..since dont know jack shiz about living without a ring in your nose..leave the free people alone..and just be a slave…quietly. Just because you can’t doesnt mean others cant as well..thats an insanity to think that way. Your an ego maniac with an inferiority complex. Until you educate yourself on a matter, it would be smart to keep your ignorance under wraps.
Liberals are all about big government. Tha bigger the government, the more regulation. The Left is turning our country into a nanny state, and you can rest assured that the more they give you, the more they’re gonna tell you what you can do with it. Think about supporting a candidate who isn’t about giving you things, instead making it easier to get it yourself.
I used to live just down the road from where your are talking about and know for a fact some of your comments are false, Most people that really know him like him very much, just a down to earth nice person willing to lend a hand when needed. I used to be the Fire Chief in that aria so I do know you are not telling the truth.
Chief I know the man too and he would help anyone he could. He in fact is just a good old Country boy.. There ain’t much call for them anymore..
Finally someone with knowledge of the situation. With all the rhetoric here, it needs to be understood that the government isn’t trying to keep him from living the way he wants, rather protect the general public.
And even though I still believe that is still overreaching, a majority of the general public is rather ignorant and need that protection.
Vet63.. my thoughts exactly. The best comment I’ve read so far.
The government doesn’t want you living off the grid, they want you living ON welfare!! Right!?
The more people that are living on govmnt handouts, the more the power of the politicians.!
Ya as far as the far left goes that is. Bunch of idiots!
Oh my gosh finally some else has this figured out! Hope others see through it.
Eustace I make about 3000 a month if anyway possible I could move their I would contribute all I could to support that way of life
thanks steve
So what let them man live how he wants why do you even care?
Uh, you know this is bullshit TV right? Eustace Conway is a lucrative business man that charges people hundreds of dollars to camp on his land and hundreds of dollars to take his “classes” on spoon carving and log cabin building right? That shit you see on the TV show is scripted and (poorly) acted out.
Eustace is a jerk. Last year I watched him put two different young men in no win situations just to berate them when they failed. He tells the guy to cut the log in half knowing he would bind the chain saw up because of the way the log was laying, then carries on about having a valuable saw ruined. Tonights show he blamed the new helper for logs jamming up down in the creek when it was his buddys fault. He has a giant ego and turns every tiny task into a giant undertaking in his small mind expecting that his audience will be all amazed that he was able to get the “impossible” done. He addresses every task as if it is a monumental undertaking. I mute my TV when his section comes on because he gags he shit outta me.
Why are you commenting on this page unless its a joke then it’s funny and you’re okay.
How much money do these people get paid to do the mountain men show? The thing I like about the show is the scenery and wild life not the people or the story line! The one think in common with all of them is they are always trying to beat the clock, they are always having to do everything or they might not make, they need to plan a little better or they could not live off the grid as they say!
His name should be Con-man not Conway. After the History Channel cameras go off the old tools go into the shed and the modern ones come out. He is a fraud making tons of money.
I’ve been to the island my friend. It makes sense to you that he would be making a lot of money from a TV show because you get paid to bust water all over some hairy guys back on the internet.
Is it me, or does anyone else question whether Eustice & his helper really built the canoe in a few or even several days given the tools he possesses? I’ve done considerable woodworking over the last 45 years & don’t buy he made the entire canoe!
We have lost our freedoms and we have NOT even noticed it! Hitler’s son Obama, love taking away our freedoms and enjoy pushing their crap down our throats. If we don’t act now, it will B 2 late to act later!!
Who seriously cares about all this arguing? I enjoyed the show and found all the Mountainmen guys very entertaining. I never thought about it true or false it was fun to watch. Bottom line.
“When did it become acceptable for the government to intimidate someone off their land? When did it become acceptable for the government to tell us how we can live on our own land?”
Ha! Seriously? Anyone familiar with what was done with the various Indian tribes? They were totally self-sufficient and forced to become totally dependent on the US govt. The govt is just doing it to everyone else. If you have some time, watch Ken Burns’ “The West”. This country has done a lot of dipsh!t stuff and it just continues to do so, just bigger and more pervasive.
Unless you have allodial ownership/title, you don’t actually own your land. You get to pay for it over the course of 25-40 years, at interest which allows you to pay, what 3-4 times the purchase price? But you don’t own it.
How about that.
T….Thats simply not true. It is a common, modern, misconception that the bank owns your property until paid in full. Immediately following funding a Deed of Trust is recorded with the county in the name of the property owner. A subsequent document(s) is/are then recorded detailing any and all liens or notes attached to said property. In the case of default the note/lien holder must then go through either judicial or non-judicial processes in order to assume ownership and must prove legal standing to do so. Any old timer can define “Deed” far more accurately than the brainwashed public these days. These criminal banks have attempted to hijack our centuries old systems of title.
It depends on the state. Some states are “lien theory” states which means that you do not own the property until it has been paid off. In “title theory” states, you own the property unless it is foreclosed upon, or otherwise taken through legal process.
EVERY SINGLE CONGRESSMAN AND SENATOR IN WASHINGTON ARE MILLIONARES, NO PAIN, GET IT.THEY LEGISLATE WITHOUT ANY FEAR AT ALL. I RECOMMEND THAT A FEW GET KNOCKED OF SO IT SENDS A SIGNAL TO THE OTHERS, HEY, WE BETTER START LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE OR THAT CAN HAPPEN TO ME. EVERY POLITICION IS “ROGUE” VOTING FOR THEMSELVES NOT FOR US.THEY SHOULD FEAR “WE THE PEOPLE” OR ELSE.
We should all go off grid and they can go flog themselves, opus dei style.
Crazy mothers.
Learn your rights. Their ‘statutes and bylaws’ don’t apply to non-government employee’s. Learn and enforce your natural rights. Remove yourself from the system.
deanclifford.info
Eustace you need to return all mail unopened if possible to government within 3 days of receiving mail from them and do NOT enter “any” verbal discussions with any of them. If they come on your land with requests tell them you will comply if they “DOCUMENT AND VERIFY THE OBLIGATION” Put RTS sticker over the window of all envelopes and return them to sender. Below is exact wording..
RETURN TO SENDER
I DO NOT RECOGNIZE YOU
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOUR INTENT
I DO NOT HAVE AN INTERNATIONAL TREATY WITH YOU
NO ASSURED VALUE
NO LIABILITY when signing anything (everything) always sign with by:yourname continue drawing a half circle from last letter of the signature underneath and back through the by. This is a conditional signature and a way of letting them know in no uncertain terms that your sovereign.. Good luck buddy..!
TITLE 18 U.S.C. SEC. 241, 242
TITLE 42 U.S.C. SEC. 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986
LEGAL NOTICE
NO TRESPASSING
To all persons, officers, and governmental agencies.
including, but not limited to Federal Officers
of the IRS, HEW, HUD, ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH,
SOCIAL SERVICE WORKERS and other unconstitutional
agencies, and to all LOCAL MEMBERS OF PLANNING & ZONING BOARDS:
WARNING : You are hereby advised of the following
Federal Criminal Law
“If two or more persons conspire to oppress, threaten, or
intimidate any citizen in the free exercise & enjoyment of any
right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or the Laws of
the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same: or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with the intent to prevent or hinder his
free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured-
They shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than
ten years or both: and if death results, they shall be subject to imprisonment for any term of years or for life.”
Get this No Trespassing sign posted on your property
Where can I find the signs
I would love a copy of this, government think there Gods and think they can control how others live. Off griders are mostly like the Amish and separate themselves from the world yet government doesn’t want us self sufficient cause they want control. It’s part of the NWO it talks about in the Bible. These government workers think there doing right but there doing evil. God wants us self sufficient not relying on the world.
Of course what the government is doing is fascist but this serves as yet another lesson. Go on TV or publicize what you are doing and you risk the gestapo coming in to put you down. Beware, be cautious and be vigilant.