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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Mount Vernon Trail has been named to the Rails to Trails Conservancy's Hall of Fame, the national trails group announced Thursday, capping a public vote in which the Virginia path drew 58% of ballots cast.
The trail beat two other finalists: the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and the Historic Battlefield Trail in Texas. Voting ran Aug. 5 through Aug. 16.
The honor lands on a trail that Alexandria residents started. Ellen Pickering and Barbara Lynch pushed for the path in the early 1970s, and volunteers built the first segment by hand — an origin the conservancy pointed to in explaining the pick.
"The Mount Vernon Trail exists because of the efforts of countless community members and volunteers who built the first segment of trail and advocated for continued expansion and investment," said Judd Isbell, president of the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail. He said the group will keep up that work through weekly volunteer events and donor-funded upgrades to trail amenities.
Ryan Chao, the conservancy's president, said Hall of Fame trails serve as anchors in their communities and called the Mount Vernon Trail a symbol of what is possible elsewhere. He tied the selection to the organization's 40th anniversary and the nation's 250th, saying the trail brings to life both the story of the country's founding and the volunteerism behind the trails movement.
Cameron Taylor of the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail credited local turnout for the win, saying efforts to get out the vote "really made a difference."
The trail runs 18.5 miles along the Potomac, linking Theodore Roosevelt Island to George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon. Along the way it passes Old Town Alexandria, Jones Point Park — home to the oldest surviving original boundary marker of the District of Columbia and Virginia's only remaining riverine lighthouse — and the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, one of the largest freshwater tidal marshes left in the National Park System.
It is also a key segment of the Capital Trails Network, a planned system of more than 1,000 miles of trails across the District, Maryland and Virginia that is nearly 53% complete. The conservancy estimates the finished network will generate as much as $1 billion in annual economic activity for the region. Arlington, which hosts part of the trail, has repeatedly been named the country's fittest city by the American College of Sports Medicine, with walking and biking access cited as a reason.
The conservancy has run the Hall of Fame since 2007, judging trails on scenic value, use, amenities, historical significance, accessibility, management and community benefit, along with connections to regional trail networks.
