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DENTON – A spring celebration is planned to mark the Caroline County seat as the “first town to start working to become an American Discovery Trail ‘Trail Town,’” according to the ADT website.
Town Manager Scott Getchell made the announcement Jan. 2 at the town council’s first meeting of 2025. The date for the celebration is pending.
On April 4, 2024, the Denton Town Council recognized “the importance of outdoor recreation, connecting communities, promoting health and wellness, and preserving America’s natural beauty” by passing a resolution to “support and promote the American Discovery Trail (ADT) as a national treasure.”
The town’s application officially designating the community as an “American Discovery Trail Town” was approved by the ADT Society. In a public ceremony, the ADT Society will award two distinct signs for the town to install.
According to the April 4 resolution, “the trail provides economic benefits to local communities along its route, including tourism revenue, job creation, and increased property values, contributing to the vitality and sustainability of small towns and rural areas.”
“Knowing that a town on the trail is an officially designated ADT Trail Town encourages hikers and bikers to plan their visit, knowing that they will be welcome and have opportunities to rest, resupply, and recharge,” the ADT website states.
The American Discovery Trail runs across the center of the U.S. with a northern and southern option in the central states.
According to the ADT website, the route through Maryland and Washington, D.C., serves as the area’s “greenway connector.”
“Proceeding west from Delaware the trail passes through Maryland’s eastern shore via rural roads, the Denton Greenway and the planned Hillsboro Rail Trail, which leads to Tuckahoe State Park. As the trail continues on to the Chesapeake Bay, it is bordered by inlets and wetlands as it approaches the Kent Narrows Island Greenway and the Bay Bridge,” discoverytrail.org states.
The Maryland and Washington, D.C. portion of the American Discovery Trail is 270 miles in length, running along mostly trails and sidewalks.
The ADT comprises about 6,800 miles, “including both the northern and southern routes,” according to discoverytrail.org. “Very few people actually cover all 6,800 with most either doing the 5,057 miles of the southern route or the 4,834 miles of the northern route. In fact, the entire ADT, including all the alternate segments, actually has about 7,600 miles of trail.” Most of the miles are on trails or unpaved surfaces.
For more information, visit discoverytrail.org.
