Journey Through Hallowed Ground

I got an email this week from some urban planning students from Va Tech, about a project they are working on. There is an organization called Journey Through Hallowed Ground.

"The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising national and local awareness of the unparalleled history in the region, which generally follows the Old Carolina Road (Rt. 15/231) from Gettysburg, through Maryland, to Monticello in Albemarle County, VA. From its communities, farms, businesses and heritage sites, we'll celebrate and preserve this vital fabric of America which stands today in the historic, scenic and natural beauty of this region."

The students are looking at the development of cycling resources along this corridor, consisting, as I understand it, of a primary route along the corridor, with spurs to the various historic and cultural features identified by JTHG. For obvious reasons, while the historic corridor follows Rt. 15, it doesn't quite fit the bill as a bike route. Hideous death trap would be a more apt description.

They had come across my web pages (internet fame, how cool) about aimlessly wandering through the county and contacted me to see if I wanted to share any ideas about routes. The four students and I met Saturday at local shop The Bicycle Escape, adjourned to Starbucks, and had a good discussion about all kinds of cycling stuff. Most of you know how dangerious it is to give me a captive audience. They even bought me a latte. I felt like a celebrity.

I hope I gave them some good ideas for routes, and some view of the amenities for cyclists here. The county is a great place for riding, and additional routes and trails wouldn't hurt. I encouraged them to join the local forum Bike Site to get other area cyclists' input, and I started a thread over there which is pretty much a copy of this post.

Anyone who is interested should check out the hallowed ground website to see what that organization is about, and go over the the bike site thread to put their two cents in.