Holmes County celebrates new Glenmont trail link completion

Some time ago, Jen Halverson and Ron Mattox were hiking through the briars and wetlands along Black Creek between Glenmont and state Route 520, wondering how in the world they were going to design that stretch of trail on Holmes County Rails to Trails.

Recently, they, along with many others, had the good fortune of celebrating the vision of many who helped finish that stretch of trail.

The Holmes County Park District has had many different reasons to celebrate its growth over the past years, but it enjoyed a big moment recently at the trailhead near Glenmont.

The Holmes County Park District and Rails to Trails convened at the trailhead Oct. 1, joining a group of citizens to celebrate the completion of the portion of the trail between Glenmont and state Route 520.

This milestone marks one of the last steps in completing the long-anticipated vision of a county-line-to-county-line trail, part of the broader Ohio-to-Erie Trail system.

Halverson, director of the Holmes County Park District, greeted an appreciative crowd and spoke about the effort that has gone into this time-consuming but important project over the years.

“This project has been going on for a very long time,” Halverson said. “This is a beautiful stretch of four miles of our trail.”

Halverson recognized several people involved with the ongoing process, including Holmes County Park District board members Dan Mathie, Irene Burgett and Ashley Vaughn. She added thanks to the group of the Rails to Trails Coalition auction benefit.

She also recognized the Holmes County Rails to Trails Coalition board, which had several members attend the event. Those members included Tom Vaughn, Tom Alexander, Duane Miller, Allen Miller, Steven Miller, John Gingerich and Leroy Troyer.

Vaughn thanked Halverson for her commitment to the progress on the trail from the beginning. One former board member Halverson singled out who was in attendance was Dr. Andy Hart, who moved away to Indiana several years ago after retiring. However, during his time here, he was instrumental in developing and promoting the idea of the trail.

“He was one of the people who spearheaded this 30 years ago,” Halverson said of Hart. “That group had the vision to say, ‘I bet we can turn that old railroad into something,’ and look what it has become.”

The other members of that early investigatory board included Grant Mason, Bill Baker, Mike Taylor, David Kline and Eric Strouse.

Hart said they got things rolling in the early 1990s, and the most pivotal moment was purchasing the right-of-way to the railroad.

“In that discussion, they were determined to sell to the highest bidder, and I just said, 'OK, we’ll buy it,’” Hart said. “Well, I didn’t have the money, but I signed my name on the bank note. That was a little scary.”

Once they did that, and the commissioners eventually got on board, it was full steam ahead, and Hart’s worries dissipated.

Issues like finding funding for the trial through local, state and federal grants fell into place, and the community began to catch the vision.

“It was a big leap of faith,” Hart said. “Once it started, it really snowballed.”

Halverson continued the accolades by thanking members of the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, both of whom have been instrumental funding sources for the recently completed portion of the trail, as well as the Holmes County commissioners.

Another key group is the Ohio to Erie Trail Coalition, which has had the task of connecting the trail from Cincinnati through Columbus to Cleveland.

Halverson commended the team from Grassbaugh LLC, which served as the contractor for this stretch of trail, in addition to all the subcontractors who helped build the stretch.

Woolpert Engineering helped design the trail, something that Halverson and Mattox of Woolpert said is much more than simply carving a path through local terrain.

“It was over 15 years ago that I first started on this little piece with a conceptual design," Mattox said. “Dealing with ODOT, environmental people, the wetlands, the bridges, I do what I do for the folks who really are the champions of making this happen.”

He said one key part of the equation was a one-for-one land swap with Briar Hill Stone. Mattox said both parties were eager to make the trail a reality, and the coalition wanted the trail to follow Black Creek.

“It was a match made in heaven,” Mattox said.

Even then, the grade, drainage issues, the piles of stone and designing something suitable weren’t easy, but it turned out to be what Halverson said was a stunning part of the trail.

Dealing with the wetlands proved to be a particularly tough challenge.

“Environmental people don’t want you messing with their wetlands,” Mattox said, noting that they adhered to every request along the way to respect those wishes.

The work was worth it, and the newest addition to the trail adds extensive beauty to the county’s trail.

Halverson said the final plans for the remaining stretch of trail near Killbuck have been filed with ODOT, and the goal is to bid out the project around the first of 2026, with construction beginning in spring.