Greenway sign welcoming visitors the trail, pictured in the header photo. (photo credits: Chris Anderson)
Almost every day, in every season, local residents and visitors can be seen strolling, jogging, pushing strollers, or riding bicycles, not along the busy roadways in Luray, but along the Luray-Hawksbill Greenway. The two-mile paved path next to the Hawksbill Creek winds through downtown Luray providing many benefits to users including access to the outdoors, a safe space for exercising and a gathering place where neighbors and friends meet along the path.
Good news! The Hawksbill Greenway Foundation and the town of Luray have plans to expand the greenway another 900 feet along the north end of the trail. The planned expansion will highlight the rich history of two important landmarks: Redwell-Isabella Furnace and Yager’s Spring. The next step for the historical park and trail is a feasibility study to determine the trail design, environmental impacts, and trail location.
“The Luray Greenway and the town of Luray’s efforts to extend the greenway is truly a wonderful continuing effort for the health of our community. This effort is so exciting as it will preserve the latecolonial Redwell-Isabella Furnace site and turn it into a small park. The furnace operation was instrumental in helping start the town of Luray as a community as early as 1787. Also remarkable on the site is the amazing Yager’s Spring that is a major tributary to the Shenandoah River. This is all about preserving our identity as a community with so much more added benefits.”
~Rod Graves, local historian and supporter of the project