Bladen County celebrates “Year of the Trail” with bridge opening and weekend events
The bridge is an important section of the NC Mountains to Sea Trail which stretches from the TN border to Nags Head
ELIZABETHTOWN, NC (WWAY) — An important step for hikers in southeastern NC happens Feb. 17 with the opening of a new bridge in Bladen County.
Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce have scheduled a ribbon cutting celebration at 2:00 p.m. to open the bridge over the Jones Lake Drain in Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest.
Attendees are asked to gather at the Jones Lake State Park visitor center parking lot by 1:45 p.m. for a short walk to the bridge site. For more details about the event, visit here
The ceremony is part of a weekend full of events marking the Year of the Trail in North Carolina.
Executive Director of Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail, Brent Laurenz said the new section of the trail is important for hikers in this part of the state, where much of the trail is still on roadways.
“It just adds more off-road hiking opportunities on natural surface trail, which in the mountains you have a ton of, but we’re getting more and more of in this part of the state as well,” he said.
“It gets long distance hikers off roads, and it just provides another great community hike, local hike, for folks who live in the area as well.”
The new bridge is right across the road from historic Jones Lake State Park , which opened as the first state park to welcome Black Americans.
For a list of weekend activities celebrating Year of the Trail in Bladen County, click
