Mountain Men: Who Is Eustace Conway?
Get to know Eustance Conway, one of the stars of Sky HISTORY’s popular reality series, Mountain Men.
Image: Eustace Conway | Mountain Men
Forget Bear Grylls. When it comes to the OG of survivalists, Eustace Conway takes the cake. Or should we say, the homegrown kale and foraged mushrooms. Tanned, bearded and more at ease in a buckskin shirt than a blazer, he’s the North Carolina naturalist who turned a scrap of Appalachian woods into a working classroom. And then, for good measure, he let TV cameras follow along.
The result? Mountain Men, a hit American reality television series available on Sky HISTORY that sees Eustace Conway shun modern technologies and conveniences in favour of a life at one with nature. Think Joseph Meek and Ernest Shackleton, but modern day.
From South Carolina to a tipi (yes, really)
Eustace Robinson Conway IV was born in 1961 in South Carolina. He did his formal studying (anthropology and English) at Appalachian State University, but honestly, the outdoors got to him first. At 17, he left home to live in a tipi, cook over fire and figure out how little a person actually needs to survive. He’s hiked the Appalachian Trail, and in the early ’90s, he rode across America on horseback.
Turtle Island: a remote sanctuary
In 1987 he founded Turtle Island Preserve, a 1,000-acre environmental education centre and wildlife sanctuary near Boone, North Carolina. Yes, it’s remote. You’ll have to venture into an isolated valley and down a long, gravel road to get there.
The mission statement says it 'exists as an interpretive guide and gentle coaxing partner for people interested in seeking out enriching, satisfying, nurturing, meaningful, and transformative experiences with our ancestors graceful dance through life and history.'
A mountain man, immortalised
Writer Elizabeth Gilbert (of Eat, Pray, Love fame) clocked what he was up to and profiled him in the book The Last American Man. She captured that what Eustace does isn’t cosplay. It’s boots-in-the-mud, get-your-hands-dirty competence. And if there’s one thing that matters when it comes to the great outdoors, it’s competence.
How he ended up on TV
When Mountain Men
launched in 2012, the idea was simple: follow people who still build a life around the land. Eustace fit the bill perfectly. The cameras captured him teaching apprentices, bartering firewood, and (because reality is reality) sorting out property taxes. If you warm your house with wood, you cut a lot of wood. If you own land, you do paperwork. The series never pretended otherwise and that’s part of what made it such a success.
Red tape in the wilderness
Unsurprisingly, things got more complicated when Mountain Men hit screens. The state quickly raised building-code concerns at Turtle Island. Eustace argued for the educational nature of what he was doing. Officials pushed back on safety. After some fixes and compromises, the preserve reopened and Eustace continued his work. But the hiccup does serve as a reminder that the even 'off-grid' dreams still brush up against the grid.
What he actually believes (and teaches)
Eustace isn’t anti-tools and he isn’t playing pioneer. He’ll use a truck and a chainsaw if they’re the right answer and he’ll reach for hand tools when they’re better. The through-line is skill. He's all about learning, teaching and upskilling.
The economics are honest too: sell a cord of wood here, run a class there, trade labour for kit when you can. The goal isn’t to reject the modern world. It’s to right-size it, so you’re not helpless when the battery dies and the nearest mechanic is over the ridge.
After more than a decade on air, he’s still doing what he was doing at the start: keeping a piece of ground working and passing on the know-how. Apprentices from early seasons come back as mentors and viewers can literally see Turtle Island evolving for the better.
Where he is now
Eustace Conway is still living the dream at Turtle Island, learning and teaching. Watching him is oddly calming. It makes you want to sharpen something, even if it’s just your pencils. His craft clearly resonates with viewers, especially in an age where technology has infiltrated itself into most aspects of life. Eustace Conway flips the script, and viewers love him for it.
Enjoy profiles like this? Join the Sky HISTORY newsletter and get the latest straight to your inbox.
