A generous community
built this trail
Middlebury, Ind.
Oct. 9, 2013
It’s an honor to represent the
Friends of the Pumpkinvine at this ribbon cutting. Our volunteer organization
has championed the rails-to-trails concept for this old corridor for over 20
years, and I’m thrilled today to see two more sections officially opened. It
was 20 years ago, October 1993, that we signed a purchase agreement with Penn
Central to buy the Pumpkinvine corridor, and the closing was in December of
that year. When funding for the corridor was in place, we donated the land to
the appropriate public agency.
Between the purchase and
donation, we were busy. There were title searches of every corridor parcel, petitions
and resolutions of support, letter-writing campaigns to public officials, creation
of a website, fundraising letters and dinners, consultations with trail
experts, visits to dozens of trails, travel to rails-to-trails conferences,
walks with supporters to show off the corridor, news releases, 60 newsletters, a
dozen brochures, eight lawsuits, three meditations, two additional purchases of
land, and numerous negotiations for fencing.
Given all the hurdles in this
20-year marathon, what sustained the vision to recycle an old railroad corridor
into a linear park? Many factors were involved, but the key was the generosity
of people in Goshen, Middlebury and Shipshewana. We discovered huge numbers of people
who believed that recycling an abandoned railroad into shared public space would
improve the communities’ quality of life. Rails-to-trails isn’t just about creating
a place for a few bicyclists, joggers, dog walkers or roller bladders to enjoy;
it’s about creating shared public space where people can interact on a human
scale, where it’s possible to talk to friends as you ride, walk as a family in
nature and ride to work off road.
I can illustrate that community generosity
with one story. South of Sunrise Lane is a section of the old corridor where the
railroad received the land as an easement. That meant that the land reverted to
the adjacent landowners when the railroad abandoned service. Consequently, there was a gap in our
ownership of the corridor, too, when we purchased it. But, fortunately for all
of us, one family owned all the land on the west side of the Pumpkinvine in the
easement area, and they had a vision for the possibilities of a linear park on
the Pumpkinvine corridor. They were Ike and Mary Heign. Sometime after Ike’s
untimely death, we approached Mary and her family about buying their half of
the corridor, and they said yes. What a gift to the community! Without that
section, the trail stops and Sunrise Lane; there is no link to U.S 20 on the
old corridor.
Someday soon there will be
recognition of their vision on the trail in a section named for Ike Heign. To
me, they are true heroes of the day.
I wish
there were time to tell more stories about how generous this community has been
with this project, but just let me say of our supporters, on behalf of the
Friends’ board, thank you for the many ways you have enabled the creation of
this trail. Thank you for your gifts of time, talent, money, and words of
encouragement. You are the generous community that has created an awesome
linear park.
Photos of the ribbon cutting are at: Ribbon cutting
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