Final kiosks, signage installed along the Dartmouth Heritage Trail
A kiosk and orange sign in Bliss Corner near the Southworth Library at the beginning of the Dartmouth Heritage Trail. Photo by Abby Van Selous
A kiosk and orange sign in Bliss Corner near the Southworth Library at the beginning of the Dartmouth Heritage Trail. Photo by Abby Van Selous
After beginning a project to establish a trail through Dartmouth in 2014 in celebration of the town’s 350th anniversary, the 35-mile Heritage Trail is now officially complete.
Andy Langhuaser, a member of the Dartmouth Pathways Committee, explained the project began as a way to identify Dartmouth’s historic villages that led to the town’s development and its character.
Along the trail are 10 kiosks, with the final two recently installed after the project stalled a few years ago due to the project running out of money.
Four years ago the town established a new pathways committee, which jump-started the project while also establishing a group to complete the South Coast Bikeway through Dartmouth.
“The idea being, let’s finish the trial, market it as a local ride through historic Dartmouth, but also serve as a spur to the South Coast Bikeway,” Langhauser said.
The final two kiosks are located at the Paskamansett Park on Russells Mills Road across from the Apponegansett Meeting House and on the corner of Beeden Road and Reed Road near the location of the old Lincoln Park.
There are now also orange signs placed along the trail to mark the route.
Finishing the project was a community effort, with UMass Dartmouth students designing the kiosks and orange signs and students from the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School building and installing the kiosks.
While the project was initially funded through the community preservation committee, the entire budget was never used, with the pathways committee taking on the project to build it up and “add a little more meat to it,” Langhauser said.
The committee designed its website, published its own trail map, created the logo for the heritage trail signs and moved one of the kiosks to a better location.
Langhauser noted that there are some other historical areas in town that would be “perfect” places to install kiosks, which is something the pathways committee may consider as it moves forward.
“As you’re riding the South Coast Bikeway from Wareham to Seekonk, and you want to get off, find some food, some local flavor, some history, Dartmouth has a lot to offer,” he said.
