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The Baltimore & Annapolis Trail in Maryland, part of the route of the Grand History Trail.
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To learn more about the Grand History Trail, contact Kelly Pack at kellyp@railstotrails.org or call 202.974.5148.
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| Grand History Trail Moves Forward
Imagine a bicycle trip through one of the nation's most historical regions: the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pa., the monuments in the nation's capital, the maritime and colonial history at Annapolis, Md., and so much more. Now imagine this trip on a 185-mile continuous loop trail, with direct connections to trains, transit, airports and existing long-distance routes along the East Coast Greenway  and the Great Allegheny Passage . What you've just imagined is the very real Grand History Trail.
The York County Rail Trail Authority (YCRTA) first developed the idea of the Grand History Trail in 2005. Since then, the project has grown with funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources (PA DCNR) and assistance from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and our partner, the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program of the National Park Service (RTCA). Today, the concept continues to excite trail advocates and planners throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
As part of the next steps for the Grand History Trail, RTC staff recently presented this loop trail concept at the Maryland Bicycle Symposium, hosted by One Less Car on February 4, 2009. The trail idea received an enthusiastic response from symposium attendees, some of whom even offered to help promote the trail.
The next step is a meeting of trail stakeholders, bringing local officials, tourism representatives, trail planners and advocates together in Baltimore, Md., this April. With their involvement ending this summer, RTC will hand over materials to stakeholders to help bring the Grand History Trail one step closer to reality. RTC's contributions include an inventory of federally recognized historic resources from RTCA, a GIS dataset mapping out the trail's ultimate path and interim on-street routes, and a report outlining strategies for promoting the trail as a tourism resource. Most importantly, RTC will pass the Grand History Trail concept to trail enthusiasts, advocates and planners of the Mid-Atlantic.
For more information on the Grand History Trail, visit the project's information page, which includes a draft map of the trail's route through Washington, D.C.; Annapolis, Baltimore and Frederick in Maryland; and Gettysburg and York in Pennsylvania. As RTC completes its involvement with the project over the summer, more information on the trail will be posted online.
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