A VIEW FROM ...
REGIONAL ROLE MODEL
The Eastern Trail is part of two multistate trail systems: the developing 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway ( greenway.org ) connecting Maine to Florida, and the New England Rail-Trail Network ( rtc.li/ new-england ), which aims to unite the region’s six states—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut—by multipurpose trail.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Much of the rail-trail follows the old Eastern Railroad route, the first railroad to connect Boston and Portland. Rail service began in 1842 and ran for more than a century. In 1945, the Boston & Maine Eastern Line suspended train services from Kittery to Portland, and in 1965, Portland Gas Light purchased much of the inactive right-of-way and installed a natural gas pipeline, a use that continues today.
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FALL 2022 RAILS TO TRAILS
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