The popular Maine trail to join elite group as 36th inductee in Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame 

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC), the nation’s largest trails organization, announced that Maine’s Eastern Trail would join its Rail-Trail Hall of Fame—an exemplary group of rail-trails nationwide celebrated for the social, economic and quality-of-life value they bring to the communities they serve.

Maine’s Eastern Trail runs through South Portland neighborhoods and scenic coastal landscape, including a famous lighthouse called Bug Light, the more than 3,000-acre Scarborough Marsh and a 7-mile stretch of sandy beach. The trail is the 36th inductee to Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame, an elite group of trails recognized for outstanding scenic value, use, amenities, historical significance and community value. Photo courtesy Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

The developing 65-mile trail, which welcomes 250,000 people each year along Southern Maine’s coastline and dense forests, is critical to two developing interstate trail networks: the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway that will connect trails from Maine to Florida and the New England Rail-Trail Network, which aims to unite the region’s six states—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut—by multiuse trail. Running from South Portland to the New Hampshire border, more than 24 miles of the Eastern Trail are complete. Sixteen additional miles are under construction, 11 miles of which are being advanced with the support of $700,000 in federal funding received in May 2022.

A recent economic impact study of the Eastern Trail showed that the trail delivers $44.6 million in annual economic benefits and supports 364 jobs across the state. Once the 16 miles of trail under construction are completed, the trail is projected to bring an additional $5.9 million in earnings and sales.

The Hall of Fame inductee is selected during a public vote each year, which ran from Jul. 22 to Aug. 2. The Eastern Trail was nominated alongside Alaska’s Tony Knowles Coastal Trail and Missouri’s Grant’s Trail. Hall of Fame trails are recognized for outstanding scenic value, use, amenities, historical significance and community value. Learn more about the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame at railstotrails.org/halloffame. 

The Eastern Trail runs through charming South Portland neighborhoods and scenic coastal landscape, including a famous lighthouse called Bug Light, the more than 3,000-acre Scarborough Marsh and a 7-mile stretch of sandy beach. The original rail route was built by the Eastern Railroad in the 1840s to connect Boston to Portland. The trail is managed by the Eastern Trail Alliance and Eastern Trail Management District, a partnership dedicated to fill the trail gaps and build a fully off-street multiuse trail. Learn more about the trail at easterntrail.org.

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