Moonville Rail-Trail | |
---|---|
Length | 10 miles (16 km) |
Location | Vinton and Athens County, Ohio |
Established | 2021 |
Trailheads | Zaleski, Ohio • Mineral, Ohio |
Use | Hiking, horse riding, and cycling |
Elevation gain/loss | 7 feet (2.1 m) loss |
Highest point | 731 feet (223 m) |
Lowest point | 691 feet (211 m) |
Grade | 0% |
Difficulty | Hard |
Season | Year round |
Sights | |
Surface | Gravel/dirt |
Maintained by | Moonville Rail-Trail Association |
Website | vintoncounty |
The Moonville Rail-Trail is a ten-mile (16 kilometer) rail-trail in southeast Ohio, located in Vinton and Athens Counties. It is largely embedded in the Zaleski State Forest and passes close to Lake Hope State Park. The trail is named after the Moonville Tunnel through which it passes.
The trail is built on the grade of a railroad originally built as part of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad, which ran between its namesake cities. The M&C was acquired by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad becoming its Southwestern Division. The B&O was merged into the Chessie System Railroads, which was then merged into CSX Transportation. CSX abandoned parts and sold parts of the old M&C line in stages during the late 1980s. Track was removed from the abandoned sections.
The section of the railroad grade (with track removed) from the Red Diamond Powder Plant on the west end (between McArthur and Zaleski) to Mineral on the east end was acquired by the respective county governments through Clean Ohio Conservation Fund grants. The underlying property is owned by the Athens County Commissioners in Athens County, and by the Vinton County Commissioners in Vinton County. The rail trail runs from Zaleski to Mineral. The rail remains intact from the Diamond Powder Plant westward nearly to Chillicothe. The track from Mineral eastward is abandoned through Athens and to Belpre.
This rail-trail is open to hikers, horse riders, and bicyclists. It has a gravel/dirt surface and has many stream crossings where the railroad bridges were removed during the dismantling of the track. Work to restore the many bridges in order to make the entire stretch passable is underway. [1] The trail features two tunnels: the Moonville Tunnel, a masonry tunnel in Vinton County that is reputed to be haunted, [2] and the King Switch Tunnel, a timber tunnel in Athens County.
The governing organization of the trail, Moonville Rail-Trail, Inc., hopes to eventually extend the trail eastward to New Marshfield then to Athens to join with the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway.
Vinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,800, making it the least populous county of Ohio. Its county seat is McArthur. The county is named for Samuel Finley Vinton, US Representative from Ohio.
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Zaleski State Forest is a state forest in the U.S. state of Ohio, located primarily in Vinton County, with areas in Athens County as well. The 28,000 acre (110 km²) forest surrounds Lake Hope State Park in Vinton County, and borders the Waterloo Wildlife Research Station in Athens County.
Ingham is a ghost town in southeastern Brown Township, Vinton County, Ohio, and western Waterloo Township, Athens County, Ohio, United States. The town is located east of the more well known ghost town of Moonville in Vinton County and west of Mineral and King’s Station in Athens County
Mineral is an unincorporated community in Athens County, Ohio, United States. Centered on State Route 356, it was established as a coal mining community. It is located on Mud Lick Run, which flows into nearby Hewitt Fork, a tributary of Raccoon Creek. The B&O Railroad once ran through the community, but was abandoned in the 1980s. In recent years, the portion of the old railroad grade going west from the community has become the Moonville Rail-Trail. The King Switch Tunnel on the grade is close to the community. The next larger community is New Marshfield, also unincorporated, to the east in the same township.
The Hocking Valley Scenic Railway is a non-profit, 501c3, volunteer-operated tourist railroad attraction that operates out of Nelsonville, Athens County, Ohio. It is also located near the popular Hocking Hills State Park in nearby Hocking County. It uses former trackage of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, which was in turn originally Hocking Valley Railway trackage. The current operation was founded in 1972.
Hope is an unincorporated community in Brown Township, Vinton County, Ohio.
King's Station, also known as King's Switch or King Hollow, is a Ghost town in Waterloo Township, Athens County, Ohio, in the United States.