ECO Greenway — I like it!
Earlier this week, folks made it official that the new name for Rome’s trail network would be the ECO Greenway. ECO, of course, an acronym for Etowah, Coosa and Oostanaula. I think it fits pretty well and is much better than the other finalist in the name the trail campaign, which had something to do with Darter. I don’t think we have many darters in any of the three rivers that flow through Rome.
From an environmental standpoint, ECO is a lot more generic but it does convey the idea that we are at least somewhat sensitive to the environment around us. Darters are often used by some of the more wild-eyed folks who want to find an excuse to stop any kind of development around small streams.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for protecting our environment. In spite of what Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are trying to with their Blue Origin and SpaceX programs, God only gave us one Earth and he makes it very clear in the very first chapter of the first book in the Good Book that he is happy with what he made for us and that man is responsible for taking care of it.
On the other hand, I believe that some of what is considered endangered is not quite as endangered as some might have us believe. I don’t think I’ll ever forget a press conference with for U.S. Rep. Bob Barr out along the proposed path of the section of bypass from Horseleg Creek Road to the Alabama Highway where regulators had found some Tennessee yellow-eyed grass. Barr cut loose an expletive and indicated that the grass seemed to be found everywhere any community in Northwest Georgia wanted to build a road.
Anyway, ECO Greenway does have a nice ring to it and folks who want to come paddle Rome’s rivers can visit the ECO Blueway.
The theoretical Ground Zero for the trail system will be near the Rome-Floyd ECO Center nature education center in Ridge Ferry Park. I think that’s a pretty good move as well.
I say “move” because, as some of you know, but many don’t, the current Ground Zero, from which mile markers are measured, is the Ellen Axson Wilson statue at the Chief John Ross Pedestrian Bridge near the Forum River Center.
While the Town Green in front of the Forum is getting a lot of use and is very popular, particularly during the summer when the fountain is on, Ridge Ferry Park has become Rome’s Central Park. There is a lot of playground equipment and picnic space for families, plenty of parking and the ECO Center — which is going to be enhanced soon with some 2017 SPLOST dollars.
Trails in Rome, and all around the country for that matter, got a real shot in the arm from COVID-19. A lot of people who had never spent much time on the local trails discovered them and have continued to use them as a very inexpensive form of passive recreation. It’s a great way to get a little exercise and you meet a lot of good folks along the trails.
My own trail use has been hampered for the past nine months by a meniscus injury and my midsection reflects that. However, I am resolved to getting back out there more frequently.
While the trail network is rebranded as the ECO Greenway, the individual sections of trail will retain their long-time names. Some of those are better known than others. I suspect the best known is the Kingfisher Trail, which extends from the South Broad Bridge out to the Silver Creek Trail, which connects East First Avenue with Twelfth Street at the health department.
I’m almost embarrassed to say that I’m not 100% certain of the name for the trail through Ridge Ferry Park. I’ve most frequently referred to it as the Ross to Ridge Road. It actually follows the path that was used by Cherokee to move upriver from the confluence of the rivers downtown, where Chief John Ross had a ferry, out to what we know today as Chieftains Museum, where Major Ridge had his ferry.
The Mount Berry Trail runs from behind the post office out to Little Dry Creek and soon will be extended to the Armuchee Connector. And then there is the new Redmond Trail, which will soon be extended through Summerville Park. A Lindale Trail is still in the planning stage. It will run from the health department on East Twelfth.
I don’t know that the levee trails ever have had a formal name.
ECO Greenway is nice and catchy for the whole system and hopefully it will help market the trails and bring even more folks to Rome. What I hope does not happen is development along the trails, like the BeltLine in Atlanta.
There is one thing I’d love to see. An outdoor outfitter type store, inside an old houseboat that could be tied up near the Burwell Creek trailhead. I’ve thought that would be a cool idea for years.