Rails to Trails

I have a hiking friend, who has, with me, engaged in many projects such as the NJ State Passport to the State Parks (We did about 30 of them) and the Rails to Trails.  The furthest away we went for R & T was Linwood, outside of Ocean City.  So, today, I thought she might be interested in a close one I found in Merchantville, New Jersey.  This was especially interesting to me for three reasons: 
1.  I went to high school in Merchantville (no longer a high school)
2.  There is a Train Station coffee shop and Art Gallery there
3.  I love the Victorian and Gothic architecture in Merchantville

Now, I had already mentioned this Rails to Trails in a previous post, but since then, I found my book:  24 GREAT RAIL-TRAILS OF NEW JERSEY, by Craig P. Della Penna, published in 1999.  

This book had been less useful to me than the web site I found because the book detailed mainly trails in Northern New Jersey, Mercer and Monmouth counties and up and I rarely get further north than Burlington.  However two of the trails in his book, I did find and hike, one in Pemberton, and the aforementioned Linwood, plus the Ocean City one.  Also, the friend mentioned above, Barb Spector, and I had visited the Delaware and Rarity Canal Trail for both the D & R Museum, and the trail and the State Park!

As mentioned before the Merchantville R to T is about 1 mile, so 2 miles round trip, a nice easy walk on such a beautiful cool and sunny day as we enjoyed today, along with a ride around the nearby streets featuring those gorgeous Victorian mansions, and a coffee at the Train Station coffee shop.  

We need a Rails to Trails for Southern New Jersey.  Sorry - I am too busy on a book or two of my own to undertake this, but I did just discover another R & T that we visited - the one in Woodbine!  So that makes four!  And there is one in Monroe Twp. that I missed.  

More snow expected tomorrow, March 7, 2018, so I am glad I got out today!  Hope you did too.

Happy Trails, Jo Ann