Discovering the trail

Update on Millennium Trail upgrades

People walk it and ride it, cycle it and jog it, but whatever way you choose to enjoy the former abandoned railway line it has become a Prince Edward County asset over the years—a hidden gem, if you will. Accommodating walkers, cyclists, runners, horse riders, ATVs, and skiers and snowmobilers in winter, the Millennium Trail has recently undergone some much-needed upgrades and improvements. Patrick Maloney, Chair of the PEC Trails Committee was guest speaker at the Prince Edward County Horticultural Society`s April meeting where he shared details of the four-year project to upgrade and re-surface the Millennium Trail. His presentation briefly reviewed the history of the trail, the public fundraising involved, and the work accomplished by the many volunteers who contributed to the project.

Maloney explained how the Millennium Trail is a scenic, multi-use trail with 46 kilometres on an abandoned Canadian National Railway right-of-way, and was purchased by the County in 1997. “The original rail line was about 30 miles, which took us outside the boundaries of the County,” said Maloney. There were 10 stations originally, including Picton, Bloomfield, Hallowell, Wellington, Niles Corner, Hillier, Consecon and Weller`s Bay, among them. The trail starts at kilometre zero at Forte Kente (County Road 64 near Carrying Place) travelling roughly parallel to the Loyalist Parkway. “It crosses Consecon Lake and continues through the wetlands of Hillier, running close by the centres of Wellington and Bloomfield, with two termination points in Picton, one at downtown Lake Street and the other north of County Road 49 near White Chapel.”

In 2017, Prince Edward County Trails, a private committee of residents, in tandem with County staff, with the support of council, formed an ad hoc committee, explained Maloney. Their mandate was to re-surface the 46 kilometres of the trail and to improve infrastructure and general use for the users of the trail. “The project work schedule included brushing out of overgrown edging areas of the trail, and the widening of the trail to approximately nine feet, re-grading the gravel and the salt base, and the topping-up of roughly six inches of crushed limestone,” said Maloney. In addition, distance markers were placed at every kilometre, and interpretative, safety and directional signage were added. They also built four rest areas with parking and amenities.

The initiative to upgrade the trail was originally going to be done in one year, but when federal and provincial grants didn`t come through, funding for the project was completed over a three- year timeframe, largely with help from the municipality, which committed $350,000 to the project over three years. “We did eventually get a provincial grant for about $120,000 and that was called the Cycle On grant, the TD Bank gave us about $15,000 for some wetlands signage, a group of foundations that we applied to gave us $30,000,” explained Maloney. “What was amazing to me was that we raised $135,000 from the general public and I thought the generosity of the people in the County never ceases to amaze me.” The naming rights for each kilometre marker were offered to those who donated $1,000 or more with all 46 signs, one for each of the 46 kilometres, being snapped up within 30 days.

The grading of the trail with gravel was one of the major improvement undertaken. “The heart of the PEC Trails Committee was Barry Davidson, and Barry just drove all the heavy equipment and lot of the work was just done through volunteers,” Maloney said. Signage will be a big part of the trail upgrades and this year will see a significant difference with new signage going up, including trailhead signage, trail markers and some directional signage. Progress has also been made with a number of rest areas along the trail. Maloney says initially County staff picked about six rest areas along the trail, with the first kiosk in Wellington built by the Rotary Club of Wellington. “It was their work on the area of the trail that was the point that started the whole concept of reworking the whole trail.” In addition to Wellington, rest areas were completed at Salem Road and Station Road. “Three that are coming up, that hopefully get okayed by council in the next few years, is one at Stanley Street (Bloomfield), one at Lake Street (Picton), and we may have funding already for the one at County Road 49 at the end of the trail.” Maloney said it is hoped they can raise money to complete the three remaining kiosks with benches and trees, and directional signage, as well as on-going maintenance. Maloney says the rest areas, all hand built by volunteers, are modelled after the first one in Wellington. “It is like a mini train station to try and keep the theme of what was the old railway, with bicycle parking, picnic table, seasonal washroom, and a beautiful garden area with native plantings.” The kiosks contain information and images on local history, including Indigenous history and railway history, as well as information on the people who donated.

An important issue the committee is working on with the municipality is setting up development guidelines along the trail. “We found along the trail the developers are really big on promoting development with trail access for cycling and walking,” he explained. “It’s nice to have trail access, but you don’t want development to overwhelm the trail itself, so we are working with the County setting some development guidelines for the trail. We also want to build a long-term maintenance group and model and equipment for long-term maintenance of the trail.”

And then there is the Story Book Walk, an interesting project that came out of Wellington Rotary. “The idea is to set up these areas along the trail and take children along and it’s basically a walking story: we walk along and you read parts of what’s going on in the story,” described Maloney. “I think it’s a fabulous project and I am hoping to have that implemented before the year’s out, and I think that’s really exciting.” Maloney said it has also been good to see some of the arts organizations doing events on the trail with children. “It’s great to see the trail move beyond just a recreational trail and being a centre for some of the smaller communities along the trail.”

PEC Trails were awarded a Trail Builder Award by the Ontario Trails Council this year. “We were recognized by the Ontario Trails Council for the work we have done on the trail, and I take great pride in that on behalf of the committee,” said Maloney. “Our goal as a committee is to make Prince Edward County a safer, healthier place to live, work and play.” For more information, please visit pectrails.ca. The Prince Edward County Horticultural Society can be reached at pechorticultural. org