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Status: Partially
open / Planned. 10 miles of crushed and compacted stone trail is open from Lebanon to Sugar Creek Bridge north of Thorntown.
County:
Boone, Clinton, Tippecanoe
City:
Zionsville, Whitestown, Lebanon, Hazelrigg, Colfax, Clarks Hill, Stockwell,
Lafayette
Endpoints:
North/West:
-Wabash River, Lafayette
-Prophetstown State Park
South/East:
-Zionsville, Eagle Creek, Indianapolis
Trailheads: TBD
Activities:
biking
horseback riding
walking
rollerblading
Surface:
TBD
Length: 40+
miles
Descrption: The
Farm Heritage Trail (FHT) is a proposed multi-use trail along the former
Big Four rail corridor between Zionsville and Lafayette, highlighting
Indiana's rich agricultural heritage while providing a conduit for transportation,
recreation, tourism and appropriately-scaled economic development. Ultimately
this rural non-motorized path for walking, bicycling and horses will provide
an unbroken 60+ mile trail connection between the Museum at Prophetstown
and the future Cultural Trail in downtown Indianapolis. Offering the public
more up-close access to agriculture will ultimately help preserve farmland
and the rural way of life, as well as to answer the increasingly confounding
question, "where does our food come from?"
The innovation of the FHT lies in combining agri-tourism with trails, both of which have experienced significant growth in popularity over recent years. The pairing situates the FHT as a unique attraction for Indiana in both categories. Agri-tourism attractions such as the FHT connect the urban and suburban populous with the culture of agriculture, deepening the tourists' respect, appreciation and understanding of the rural environment. And no means of visiting a place immerses and impacts the visitor quite like the intimate pace of travel by foot, bicycle or horse.
Manager:
Currently the trail project is being supported by various individual groups,
the most active of which is Friends
of Boone County Trails.
Future Plans: Involvement
from Purdue University would be hugely beneficial to this project. The
trail could be used in countless capacities for business, education and
research.
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