Trail Tale Trilogy

Recently, I read two stories, seemingly unrelated, which intersect with many of the subjects we Marylanders celebrate – our history, love of sports, wonderful recreation facilities, and appreciation for quality of life amenities.

This prompted the Trail Tale Trilogy – a look at Maryland's ambitious efforts to develop linear parks that not only provide recreational opportunities and sports venues, but also connect them to our homes, schools, and other destinations.  These initiatives have supporters from the Governor's office and Capitol Hill to local bicycle advocates and homeowners associations. Working together, they are incorporating these trails into our communities.

I.  THE COMMUTER:

A recent story in the Baltimore Sun confirmed what many of us already know – The average Marylander has the longest daily commute in the country. The article goes on to contrast those who spend up to four hours in their cars a day to others (like me) who move to within walking or cycling distance to be spared the agony.

That made me think of my grandmother, born in 1901 near Burtonsville. After graduating high school at the age of 16, she went to work at the US Treasury Department. Her commute consisted of riding her horse into Laurel, stabling it near the depot on Main Street, and catching a trolley into downtown Washington. At the end of the work day, she caught the trolley back, retrieved the horse, and trotted home.

Pretty exciting stuff for a teenage girl during those heady, WWI days.

Her journey took her through Riverdale and Hyattsville, after passing the campus of what was then known as Maryland Agricultural, a land-grant school with a military curriculum requirement. Still regarded as somewhat a cow college on a large farm, Maryland was about to undergo a tremendous change in the post war era. The vanguard for that transformation was a former football star, now coach and athletic director, the legendary Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd.

Even before he led the merger of the farm campus with the professional schools in Baltimore, creating the University of Maryland, Byrd was building an empire around sports, beginning with the construction of the first football stadium to bear his name.

Among other things, this son of an Eastern Shore waterman named the school newspaper and later the athletic teams after a Maryland delicacy – Diamondback Terrapins.

Now, of course, University of Maryland enjoys great recognition for its athletic program as well as its academic credentials. With 27 varsity sports, and some of the best facilities in the country, they are a big player in efforts to attract events and activities here. But when my grandmother looked out the window of the trolley, probably the only thing she could see were some brick buildings around a dairy farm because most of the campus burned down in 1912.
 
Which brings me to the second story. Always on the lookout for trail tales, I saw a blog entry about bicycle activists in Prince George’s County and their efforts to expand a popular 2.6 mile trail within College Park. Known as the “Trolley Trail” this route connects two Metro stations, the Maryland campus, commercial centers throughout College Park and parts of the regional trail system.
 

Hard to believe, but true. The same route my grandmother traveled in the post WWI days now serves more people than the trolley ever did.   Now they’re on foot, bikes, or in strollers. And they aren’t content to merely use the sliver of trail that passes through College Park.  The grass roots activists who enjoy the success of the paved path serving the campus want it to be the backbone of a regional, multi-purpose trail system.  And they have allies who can help them.

In 2007, Governor O'Malley announced funding for the fourth segment of the trail, which will carry it to Paint Branch Road when completed this year.  This is particularly significant because that provides another connector to the Anacostia Tributary Trail system, a 24 mile network of stream valley pathways developed by the county in partnership with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission that can be seen here.  (You have to love the Feds.  Their pockets are so much deeper than ours.)
 
Local trail enthusiasts envision the day when this connects to an off-road paved trail from Laurel to Bladensburg. When the missing link between Bladensburg Park and the National Arboretum is complete, there will be direct bicycle access from College Park all the way to Anacostia Park, the Navy Yard, and the bicycle-friendly National's Park.

[Editorial comment:  Camden Yards is just as bicycle-friendly at both our stadiums.  We just don't have these fancy customized racks.  But plenty of folks cycle to our games via the Gwynns Falls Trail.]

So College Park, the University of Maryland community, and Greater Prince George's County have all benefited from the integration of this old trolley bed with new development, public transportation routes, and federal, state, and local parks.  The commuter route my grandmother once travelled now provides even greater purpose to the people who live, work, and visit this area.