The Chessie Nature Trail is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

linking

Buena Vista, Virginia Buena Vista ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city located in the Blue Ridge Mountains region of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 6,641. The Bureau of Econ ...

with

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

along the

Maury River The Maury River is a tributary of the James River in west-central Virginia in the United States. It is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay. Course The Maury flows for its entire length in Rockbridge County. It is formed near Goshen by the ...

. The trail follows the roadbed of a former

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

(C&O) branch line which extended from

Glasgow, Virginia Glasgow is a town in Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the James and Maury Rivers. The population was 1,133 at the 2010 census. Glasgow has had issues with flooding, notably during Hurricane Camille in 1969. As a ...

, to Lexington, primarily following the Maury River.

History

During the 1800s, the Maury River was developed with a series of locks and dams which permitted

packet boat Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed for domestic mail, passenger, and freight transportation in European countries and in North American rivers and canals, some of them steam driven. They were used extensively during the 18th and 19th ...

s to transport goods such as agricultural and iron products and passengers from Lexington to the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

at Glasgow and on to

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

if desired. Like many of America's canals, the canal was soon replaced by the railroad, in this case a branch line through Buena Vista to Lexington from the C&O mainline through Glasgow. In 1969, a devastating flood in western Virginia from the remnants of

Hurricane Camille Hurricane Camille was the second most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the United States, behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. The most intense storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season, Camille originated as a tropical depression ...

destroyed much of this rail line. The C&O and competitor

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

(N&W) agreed to jointly rebuild only the N&W line which also paralleled the river between Buena Vista and Glasgow, with C&O being granted

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...

from Glasgow to Loch Laird, a location on the west side Buena Vista. These trackage rights allowed the C&O to continue to serve several industries in Buena Vista. The C&O tracks beyond the Georgia Bonded Fibers plant near the

US 60 U.S. Route 60 is a major east–west United States highway, traveling from southwestern Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia. The highway's eastern terminus is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it is known as Pacific Avenue, in the ...

crossing of the Maury River were abandoned. This right-of-way was later donated to the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

Foundation for the purpose of creating a public walking trail; ownership of the trail was expected to be transferred from the VMI Foundation to VMI in late 2009. In 2013, the Friends of the Chessie Trail organization group formed as a communication hub for interested organizations and individuals.

Trail description

The trail is a path at water level across fields, pastures, and woods along the Maury River. Historic canal and railroad structures are easily accessible. Initially, bikes were prohibited from the trail, but in 2011 "no bikes allowed" signs were removed. Horses are still prohibited except for special events. The trail can be reached in Lexington from

US 11 {{Infobox road , country=USA , type=US , route=11 , map={{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, frame-height=330, type=line, from=U.S. Route 11.map , map_custom=yes , map_notes=US 11 in red, US 11E in blue, US 11W in ...

to Route 631, east on Old Buena Vista Road to the parking lot. From Buena Vista, travel on US 60 west to Rt. 608 at the east end of the Russell Robey Bridge over the Maury River; parking is available near the gate.

References

External links

Friends of the Chessie Trail
{{Coord, display=title, 37.783937, -79.451003 Buena Vista, Virginia Lexington, Virginia Rail trails in Virginia Protected areas of Rockbridge County, Virginia