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About the Potomac Trail
Potomac Trail Council Board
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The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail — Connecting People and Places
Imagine a 425-mile continuous network of trails that carries you through richly diverse urban settings, historic villages, pastoral landscapes, and remote areas of natural splendor. Building on the concept for a "Potomac Heritage Trail," this developing network reveals the riches of a uniquely historic corridor that stretches from tidewater plantations and beaches on the Chesapeake Bay, to 18th and 19th century battlefields, whitewater rivers, and unique Appalachian nature preserves. Here one can know the pleasures of human-powered travel and experience the kaleidoscope of nature, history, culture and recreational resources that makes this region so rich.
Designated in a 1983 amendment to the National Trails Systems Act, the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail corridor makes connections between and within the mouth of the Potomac River at the Chesapeake Bay and the Laurel Highlands in western Pennsylvania. True to the spirit of the historic Potomac route to the Ohio River that is at the heart of this trail system, the Act enables communities in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania to further develop trails and connections that continue to increase access to historic sites and a range of recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities.
Three trails are currently recognized as segments of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail:
- the 184.5-mile C & O Canal Towpath, managed by Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park;
- the 17-mile Mount Vernon Trail, managed by George Washington Memorial Parkway;
- the 70-mile Laurel Highlands Trail, managed by Laurel Ridge State Park, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
In addition to the above, may other trails — on water as well as land — are in various stages of development.
To view the National Park Service site about the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, go to www.nps.gov/pohe.
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