High Bridge Trail State Park

High Bridge Trail State Park is a planned linear state park in Central Virginia and Southside Virginia. The new rail-trail state park will be opened for hiking, bicycling and horseback riding along an old railroad bed. A significant feature of the park will be the High Bridge crossing over the Appomattox River. The park will be headed out of Farmville Virginia at the High Bridge which has been remodelled and serves as the focus of the trail. Eric Hougeland, formerly park manager at nearby Holliday Lake State Park has been assigned the Park Manager to bring the park into completion in the coming years.

The Southside rail-trail ultimately will run through Appomattox, Nottoway, Cumberland, and Prince Edward counties, and several cities, including: [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4929105.html]
* Pamplin City, Virginia
* Prospect, Virginia
* Farmville, Virginia
* Rice, Virginia
* Burkeville, Virginia

According to the July 27, 2006 MASTER PLAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING minutes, [http://dcr.virginia.gov/recreational_planning/documents/hbmin072706.pdf] “The purpose of High Bridge Trail State Park is to provide a premiere non-motorized, shared-use path for pedestrians, bicyclists, and horseback riders in the Heart of Virginia; to preserve and protect the historic, natural, and recreational resources along the trail; and to interpret the trail corridor to offer an understanding of the region’s historic events and their causes, impact, and legacy to individuals, the community, and the nation in the full context of American history.”

On June 28, 2007, Norfolk Southern railways donated 31 miles of rail for the park. The High Bridge in Prince Edward County is the centerpiece of the proposed state park. [http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/pr_relz.shtml#nsgift] The new rail-trail state park will be opened for hiking, bicycling and horseback riding.

With the new deed for the rail bed in hand and a master plan, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), managers of the Virginia State Park system, have begun to erect gates and signs at rail line access points to help control unauthorized use.