Dolores and I explored a few miles of the Blackstone River State Park down along the Cumberland and Lincoln, RI town lines. We will return with our bikes to explore further but it was a very pleasant walk amongst the shaded trail. We stopped in to see the history Kelly House across from the Ashton Mills. Mr Kelly had built this house when he came to the area for his family. He built a mill next door (the foundation remains) and helped to build the canal along the Blackstone River in the 1820's.
The Franklin Citizens Rail Trail Committee is meeting this week to continue work on refurbishing the rail trail through Franklin that would connect us in Uxbridge to the Blackstone River Trail from RI up to the head waters of the Blackstone in Worcester.
Wouldn't it be something to ride your bike from Franklin to the Blackstone and then either south to Providence (and beyond) or up to Worcester?
Steve! I've been riding the Bikeway all summer and love it! Last weekend I got on at the old Lonsdale Drive-In and rode 12 miles on Friday (up to Albion I think) then on Saturday went up to the end in Woonsocket for a total of 18 miles that day. This weekend, my husband dropped me off at the Visitor's Center on 295 and I headed south while he went for a run but I was WAY too fast for him so I went down to the beginning in Valley Falls then back up and around the Front St. section a couple of times and rode for about an hour.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is a beautiful resource that we have and I'm glad to say that so far, there is little graffiti... Hopefully it stays that way! I love to see families using it and getting out and about riding, walking, and skating. Perhaps I'll run into you two some time!
Next time out, I'll probably stop at the Kelly House (as long as there is someplace to lock up my bike.)
Here's another link with maps: http://www.blackstoneriverbikeway.com/
Kara, there is a bike rack at the Kelly house. There is also a parking area for cars below the bridge and above the bridge (right off RT 116).
ReplyDeleteWe parked in the lot off 116 and walked up to the Visitor Center where we found out if we wanted to go further, we needed to be on the other side of the river. So we came back down, stopped in to see the Kelly House and then went up the trail just to the other side of Ashton Falls (so I could get pix from both sides).
To meet somewhere along the trail would be good!