It took nearly four decades to build the first 26 miles of the rail trail. Only 20 miles to go.
By Audrey Chamberlin
When a railway dies, it leaves a body behind—miles and miles of rails, often left to fade into the underbrush. But a body will eventually enrich the soil around it, and so too has the Penn Central Railroad, being repurposed as the skeleton for 26 miles of paved trails stretching just inside the New York-Connecticut state line. Snaking through Taconic State Park, the Harlem Valley Rail Trail aims to connect Wassaic and Chatham at full completion, giving the communities along the way a path to reach each other and reminding everyone of the natural beauty right around us.
Founded in 1986, the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association (HVRTA) is dedicated to their mission of connecting their communities by pathways traversable by anyone without the danger of using a main road. The hope is that it’ll connect the towns along the way to each other, allowing people to visit nearby places they may not have considered stopping for if they were driving nearby.
The trail is easy to walk or bike, with wide flat roads through picturesque forests and lively farmland. The current trail stretches from Wassaic all the way to Hillsdale, with current plans to build south from Chatham and connect in the middle. The project secured funding in 2019 thanks to the federal Transportation Alternatives Program and an additional grant in 2023 has allowed for the planning of the pathway from Chatham to Philmont. The trail from Hillsdale to Wassaic is open to all visitors from dawn until dusk.
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