The William G. Pomeroy Foundation has announced a partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) to launch the Great American Rail-Trail Historical Marker Program, helping to bring greater attention to the history that is embedded along the 3,700-mile coast-to-coast route.
Markers will be installed along the developing trail, one of RTC’s signature programs, between Washington, D.C. and Washington State.
Some of the historic features the marker program will showcase include a geological unconformity on the Ohio to Erie Trail in Wayne County, NY, exposed when the railroad was built in 1864, and the only surviving double-arch bridge, built in 1913, on the historic Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railway line, which can be experienced today on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail in Black Hawk County, Iowa.
The initial program includes the installation of 12 markers funded by the Pomeroy Foundation with the intention to expand the program over time. The marker program is emphasizing points of interest, local residents, architecture and other features that reveal the country’s history.
When complete, the Great American Rail-Trail, the nation’s first multiuse cross-country trail, has the potential to serve the 50 million people living within 50 miles of the trail, as well as visitors from around the world.
The full announcement can be found on the William G. Pomeroy Foundation website.
Leave a Reply