Nature Coast State Trail | |
---|---|
Length | 31.7 mi (51.0 km) |
Location | Dixie, Gilchrist, and Levy counties, Florida, USA |
Trailheads | Chiefland 29°28′29″N82°51′30″W / 29.4748°N 82.8583°W Cross City 29°38′12″N83°07′43″W / 29.6367°N 83.1285°W Fanning Springs 29°35′29″N82°55′48″W / 29.5915°N 82.9301°W Old Town 29°36′12″N82°59′00″W / 29.6033°N 82.9832°W Trenton 29°36′58″N82°49′07″W / 29.6161°N 82.8186°W |
Use | Hiking/Biking/Horses/Rollerblading |
Season | Year round |
Hazards | Severe weather, swampland |
The Nature Coast State Trail (NCST) is a 31.7-mile long segment of Florida's Statewide System of Greenways and Trails System built along abandoned railroad tracks, [2] and designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Recreation Trail. [3] [4] It has two primary sections following unused rail lines that were originally built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It includes historic sites such as a 1902 train trestle bridge over the Suwannee River [5] near Old Town and train stations in Trenton, Cross City, and Chiefland. At Wilcox Junction abandoned rail tracks cross and connect with several communities. The trail is available to hikers, cyclists, and horse riders. [6]
Florida has many abandoned railway tracks in the Suwannee River Valley. In the early 1900s freight and passenger steamships were replaced by trains that carried crops and timber and also made passenger stops in small towns such as Chiefland, Cross City, and Trenton. These lines consisted of the Thomasville—Dunnellon Line and the Jacksonville—Wilcox Line. The Nature Coast Trail follows this historic route. The 31.7 miles of the Nature Coast State Trail connects several counties and five communities (Cross City, Trenton, Fanning Springs Old Town and Chiefland). [3] [7]
In 2010, then-Florida governor Charlie Crist approved the purchase of a 9.33-mile corridor, known as the Trenton–Newberry Rail Trail. This will extend the 31.7-mile NCST managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. [4]
Nearby land and water resources exist in the vicinity of the Nature Coast State Trail. [6]
Levy County is a county located on the Gulf coast in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,915. Its county seat is Bronson. It has been included in the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area since 2018.
The Florida West Coast Railroad was a 13-mile (21-kilometre) railroad owned by CSF Acquisition, Inc., which acquired it from CSX on December 13, 1987 as its first acquisition. Archived 2004-10-18 at the Wayback Machine It ran west from a CSX line at Newberry to Trenton.
The Nature Coast is an informal, unofficial region of the U.S. state of Florida. The broadest definition of the Nature Coast includes the eight counties that abut the Gulf of Mexico along the Big Bend Coast defined by geologists: from west to east, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco counties. The name "Nature Coast" was originally devised as part of a marketing campaign to promote tourism in Levy, Citrus, Hernando, and parts of Marion and Pasco counties.
North central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida which comprises the north-central part of the state and encompasses the north Florida counties of Alachua, Marion, Putnam, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, and Union. The region's largest city is Gainesville, home of the University of Florida and center of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which is the largest metro area of the region. As of 2020, the region had a population of 575,622 people.
Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail is a paved rail trail in Florida.
The Florida Trail is one of eleven National Scenic Trails in the United States, created by the National Trails System Act of 1968. It runs 1,500 miles (2,400 km), from Big Cypress National Preserve to Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Beach. Also known as the Florida National Scenic Trail, the trail provides permanent non-motorized recreation for hiking and other compatible activities within an hour of most floridians.
State Road 26 is a 62.172-mile-long (100.056 km) east–west route across North Central Florida.
Fanning Springs State Park is a Florida State Park, located on US 19/98 in the town of Fanning Springs. It contains one of the state's 33 first magnitude springs. As of 2008, decreased water emission levels at the springs technically requalify the first magnitude status as "historical first magnitude."
The Genesee Valley Greenway is a rail trail in western New York's Genesee River valley.
The Big Bend of Florida, United States, is an informally named geographic region of North Florida where the Florida Panhandle transitions to the Florida Peninsula south and east of Tallahassee. The region is known for its vast woodlands and marshlands and its low population density relative to much of the state. The area is home to the largest single spring in the United States, the Alapaha Rise, and the longest surveyed underwater cave in the United States, the 32-mile (51 km) Wakulla-Leon Sinks cave system.
U.S. Route 129 (US 129) in Florida is a north–south United States Highway. It runs 88 miles (142 km) from Chiefland north to the Georgia State Line in Levy, Gilchrist, Suwannee, and Hamilton Counties.
The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is a rail trail that extends from northwest Jacksonville to Baldwin, Florida. While it is technically a city park, it includes three separate paths: a multi-use asphalt trail for hiking, jogging, in-line skating or cycling; an off-road bike trail; and a horseback riding trail.
State Road 49 is the state designation for US 19/98/27 Alternate(SR 55) in Chiefland, and US 27(SR 20) in Hildreth east of Branford, Florida. It also includes a county extension in Suwannee County, Florida from Hildreth to the outskirts of Live Oak, Florida.
Trenton is a historic train station in Trenton, Florida. It was built in 1905 as a stop on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad line from Newberry to Wilcox and on to Cross City.
The Jacksonville & Southwestern Railroad (J&SW) was a railroad that served Florida from 1899 to 1904. It was purchased by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1904. The Atlantic Coast Line would extend the line further west and it would become their Jacksonville—Wilcox Line. Some of the original right-of-way was converted to a recreational path in the rails to trails program in the 1990s.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Perry Cutoff was a historic rail line in northern Florida running from Monticello southeast to Perry. The line provided a shortcut through the Big Bend of Florida for rail traffic running between the Midwest and the Tampa Bay area by providing a more direct route and a bypass for the busy rail hub in Jacksonville. It was completed in 1928 to reduce travel times for its passenger trains to the west coast, or Gulf Coast, of Florida during the Florida land boom of the 1920s.
The Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad was a historic railroad in Florida chartered by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant. It was built as an extension of Plant's Live Oak and Rowlands Bluff Railroad. Together, the two lines ran from Live Oak, Florida to Gainesville via High Springs. The lines were completed in 1884.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's DuPont—Lakeland Line was a historic rail line in southern Georgia and the northern west coast of Florida. On employee timetables, the line was actually divided into the DuPont—High Springs Line and the High Springs—Lakeland Line. The line was primarily used for freight, though some passenger services ran on parts of it in Florida. While parts of the line were built as early as 1863, the full line was not complete until 1913. Parts of the line in Florida are still active today.