This past Sunday hubby and I loaded up our bikes to ride the trails at The Greenway, also known as the Cross Florida Greenway.
For hundreds of years people have been wanting to cut a canal right through Florida, making a passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It has been denied several times, but almost came to pass in the early 60's. They actually started the Cross Florida Barge Canal project!
Marjorie Harris Carr began fighting the project in 1962. It was a long fight, and the canal project was abandoned in 1971. Not far from my house, hidden in the trees in the median of Hwy441/27/301 if you look for them, you can see the supports for a bridge expansion.
I happen to know exactly where to look, as they have been there for my entire life. When I was a kid, the trees weren't blocking the supports at all. This is not far behind the Sheriff Sub Station.
Because of her dedication in saving our ecosystem, the greenway was named after Marjorie Harris Carr.
This section of Florida would have been part of the canal, but is now a wonderful place for kids to play, families to picnic and enjoy activities like biking, walking, running, roller skating, and skateboarding.
There are several trails, from the 1 mile in red, to the 1.5 mile in blue (that's what we did) and 3 miles when you include the green. I have no idea what the yellow is....I'll find out next time! We plan to go back soon, take a picnic lunch, and ride for a couple of hours.
The trails are smooth and well paved, with benches every so often to stop and rest, or just take in the beautiful scenery.
Thanks to Marjorie Harris Carr my town isn't split in half by a barge canal, and we have a beautiful park like setting to enjoy.
For hundreds of years people have been wanting to cut a canal right through Florida, making a passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It has been denied several times, but almost came to pass in the early 60's. They actually started the Cross Florida Barge Canal project!
Marjorie Harris Carr began fighting the project in 1962. It was a long fight, and the canal project was abandoned in 1971. Not far from my house, hidden in the trees in the median of Hwy441/27/301 if you look for them, you can see the supports for a bridge expansion.
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| image courtesy of wikipedia |
Because of her dedication in saving our ecosystem, the greenway was named after Marjorie Harris Carr.
This section of Florida would have been part of the canal, but is now a wonderful place for kids to play, families to picnic and enjoy activities like biking, walking, running, roller skating, and skateboarding.
There are several trails, from the 1 mile in red, to the 1.5 mile in blue (that's what we did) and 3 miles when you include the green. I have no idea what the yellow is....I'll find out next time! We plan to go back soon, take a picnic lunch, and ride for a couple of hours.
The trails are smooth and well paved, with benches every so often to stop and rest, or just take in the beautiful scenery.
Thanks to Marjorie Harris Carr my town isn't split in half by a barge canal, and we have a beautiful park like setting to enjoy.
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4 comments:
Okay...first...I'm swooning over your bikes! What a gorgeous bike trail and what a great story about the canal. I'm glad it didn't go through too! Love the beautiful pictures!
I'd love to go bike riding there. Looks nice.
Yippee! A photo of your new bikes! They are awesome, girlfriend! And we need to load ours up and go to those trails to ride...maybe it would help work some soreness out of my calf muscles! lol Sweet hugs!
Sometimes communities have to swim upsteam against the tide to get these type of projects completed but they are well worth it. Such a good repurposing of old railways & defunct bridges.
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