Matthew Henson State Park is a publicly owned greenway with recreational features that runs along Turkey Branch, a tributary of Rock Creek, in

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

is managed by Montgomery County under an agreement with the

Maryland Department of Natural Resources The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is a government agency in the state of Maryland charged with maintaining natural resources including state parks, public lands, state forests, state waterways, wildlife, and recreation areas. It ...

. It was named for

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

native and arctic explorer

Matthew Henson Matthew Alexander Henson (August 8, 1866March 9, 1955) was an African American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 years. They spent a total of 18 years on expeditions together.

. Matthew Henson Trail, an hard surface hiking/biking trail, was completed through the park in 2009. The trail runs from the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail near Aspen Hill northeast to Alderton Road near Layhill. The trail features of wooden boardwalk through environmentally sensitive areas.

History

Purchased by the state in the 1950s, the land was originally called the Rockville Facility, which would have connected to Montrose Parkway as a spur to the proposed

Washington Outer Beltway The Washington Outer Beltway was a proposed freeway that would have extended further out than the Capital Beltway and encircled Washington, D.C. through the states of Maryland and Virginia. Most of the route was canceled in the 1980s. Parts of it ...

. In response to residents' calls to the preserve the stream valley corridor, the state legislature designated 83 acres of the land as a state park and 117 acres as a county park in 1989. The state land is owned by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the county land is owned by the

Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. History The commission was formed in 1927 by the Maryland G ...

(M-NCPPC). Planning for the Matthew Henson Trail began in 2001. After many public meetings and environmental studies, the trail's preliminary plan was approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board in 2003. Funding was put forth in 2006. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation paid for the design and construction, but the M-NCPPC managed the project. Opened May 9, 2009, the project cost $5.7 million. The trail connects with the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail at Winding Creek Local Park on Dewey Road and continues northeast to Alderton Road. The trail includes ten-foot-wide boardwalks to protect the most sensitive areas and solar-powered emergency cellular phones. The trail's design and construction were nominated for a Planning & Design Award as part of the 2010 National Trails Awards. Since opening, the Veirs Mill Road crossing has been redesigned several times for safety. Some time shortly after opening the crosswalk was painted. Then, after a cyclist was killed using the crossing in 2015, the state added a yellow, flashing light and signs alerting drivers. When a second cyclist was killed 6 months later, the state switched to a

HAWK beacon A HAWK beacon (High-Intensity Activated crossWalK beacon) is a traffic control device used to stop road traffic and allow pedestrians to cross safely. It is officially known as a pedestrian hybrid beacon. The purpose of a HAWK beacon is to allow ...

. Then in 2020, they upgraded again, replacing the button-activated flashing pedestrian signal with a full color traffic signal equipped with both a call button and sensors that alert drivers to slow down. They also upgraded to a "continental" crosswalk that is more visible to motorists, replaced the zig-zag crossing with a straight-line crossing in the median and installed “passive detection” — a system in which sensors detect pedestrians and bicyclists standing in the flat landing area and activate the pedestrian signal.

References

External links

Matthew Henson Trail
Montgomery County Department of Parks
Matthew Henson Trail Map
Montgomery County Department of Parks {{authority control 1989 establishments in Maryland Aspen Hill, Maryland Parks in Montgomery County, Maryland Protected areas established in 1989 State parks of Maryland