Support Our Work
For the last three decades, we have been involved in all of the planning and construction of the trail, and 100% of donations and funding has been used for engineering and construction of the Huckleberry Trail and the amenities along the trail.
CURRENT PROJECTS
TRAIL MASTER PLAN
HUCKLEBERRIES
Most people know the story of how the Huckleberry Trail got its name. In the early twentieth century, a passenger train ran between Christiansburg and Blacksburg. The steam engine was notorious for stalling, or running so slow, that passengers had time to hop off the train and pick huckleberries. The train became known as the Huckleberry Train, and the Blacksburg Train Station was nicknamed “Huckleberry Station.”You can’t find many huckleberries in the corridor these days, but we plan to change that. We’re working with the localities and master naturalists to select and to identify locations within the trail corridor to re-establish huckleberry plantings — and to remove invasive species, too. Our first project is located around 0.5 miles from the Blacksburg Library. In the fall of 2022, Friends of the Huckleberry, Town of Blacksburg, Master Naturalists, Plant SWVA Natives, InMotion, VT’s Running Club installed 18 huckleberry bushes and scores of other native plant species in an area adjacent to the corridor. We’ll be monitoring the new garden to ensure it gets well established.
FIELD EXPLORER PACKS
PAPER, ELECTRONIC & INTERACTIVE MAPS
In 2021, we partnered with Pisgah Map Co. to produce brand new paper and digital maps of the Huckleberry Trail and the extended network of paved and natural surface trails in the area. The map is available through our amazing small business partners in Blacksburg and Christiansburg and through Avenza Maps. We are currently working on Version 2, which will be available in early summer 2023.
Additionally, our goal is to continue to provide trail users with better resources for exploring the trail, and to do that, we need access to better tools. Thanks to the generous financial support of Draper Aden, a TRC Company, we are in the process of creating a StoryMap to provide richer detail of the natural, historical and cultural assets adjacent to the Huckleberry Trail.
MILEAGE MARKERS
To provide more resources to trail users for exploring the trail, we added brand new mileage markers in 2021 to the newest segments of the trail and introduced new logos for the north and south segments.
If you are interested in having your logo or name displayed on one of the markers, sponsorships are still available. Send us an email to learn about this and other sponsorship opportunities.
HUCKLEBERRY TRAIL WATERCOLOR SERIES By Matt Gentry
Blacksburg native and Roanoke Times Photographer, Matt Gentry, has been documenting the events of Southwest Virginia through his camera lens for more than forty years. Over the last year, though, he traded his camera for brushes to create a watercolor series of the Huckleberry Trail. The 14-piece collection was completed en plein air at various locations along the trail and captures some of the most iconic and beloved locations on the trail.
Consider one of Matt Gentry’s Huckleberry Trail limited edition watercolor prints. They are on sale now at Matrix Gallery Fine Crafts, Miller off Main St. Galleries, and the Montgomery Museum of Art & History. If you need the print framed too, Miller Off Main can help! Thanks for #shoppinglocal!