After more than 15 years of planning, raising money and construction, the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Trail Project is nearly complete. It runs along the Piney River in Amherst and Nelson counties.
Planning for the seven-mile long trail, which follows the roadbed of the now defunct railway, has been a real community effort for organizations in both counties.
More than that, the first phase of the trail, four miles long, has become a tourist attraction, according to Stephen Martin, one of the organizers of the trail project and a member of the Virginia Blue Ridge Trail Foundation board.
“It’s a wonderful facility for the citizens of the counties, but above that it’s a great tourist attraction,” he said recently. People come from all over the state to use the trail for biking, horseback riding, walking and running. The trail also provides a destination for school nature walks and hosts fishing exhibits and a mini-triathlon.
The Virginia Blue Ridge Railroad was created in 1915 to transport chestnut logs out of the mountains. It closed in 1981.
via Completing Trail a Credit to Its Fans | The News & Advance.