by Lois Brooks, Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy
Reprinted with permission from the Fall 2014 edition of The Blaze, the newsletter of the Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy.
The big news for 2014 is that 17.4 miles of the Horse-Shoe Trail (H-ST) has been designated a National Recreation Trail (NRT) by the U.S. Department of the Interior. It was the only Pennsylvania trail to be designated this year and one of only 1,245 trails nationwide to have ever been honored. NRTs, according to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, are “exceptional trails” that “promote our goal of encouraging all Americans…to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors.”
The citation for the H-ST reads: “This historic 17.4-mile section of the Horse-Shoe Trail, a bridle (“Horse”) and hiking (“Shoe”) path, traverses Warwick County Park, State Game Lands, Crow’s Nest Preserve, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site and French Creek State Park. It is located within the Hopewell Big Woods, which is part of the Schuylkill Highlands. This part of Pennsylvania is noted for remnants of the early American iron industry.” (H-ST Map 2, mile 9.5 to Map 3, mile 13.3.)
(Note to H-ST users: We think the actual length of the now-NRT section of the H-ST is 18+ miles.)
This special recognition was celebrated on August 2, 2014, at the 76th Establishment Day ceremony at Hopewell Furnace. Ingrid Cantarella-Fox, president of the Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy (H-STC), was one of the speakers that day. She explained that the process to get an NRT designation includes getting letters of support from each landowner in the requested section of the trail. The following landowners graciously gave the H-STC these letters:
• Lundale Farms, Laura Morris Siena
• Warwick County Park, Owen Prusack, regional superintendent
• Harry Wilder, Harry Wilder Antiques (who was present at the event)
• Pennsylvania Game Commission, Carl Roe, executive director
• Crow’s Nest Preserve, Natural Lands Trust, Dan Barringer, preserve manager
• Peter and Eloise Smyrl
• Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, Edie Shean-Hammond, superintendent and MC of the event
• French Creek State Park, Eric Brown, park manager
As Ingrid Cantarella-Fox said: “This designation enhances the reputation of the Horse-Shoe Trail as a preeminent trail in southeastern Pennsylvania. It is the longest equestrian trail in PA.”
Special thanks go to Superintendent Edie Shean-Hammond for honoring the H-ST on Establishment Day this year. The plaque H-STC received from the federal government is hanging in Hopewell’s Visitor Center.
Over 40 supporters of the H-ST attended, including 14 H-STC board members and advisors, section maintainers, H-STC members, Wilmington Trail Club members, and at least 6 people on horseback. There were yellow H-ST shirts everywhere!