Civic Assn. Learns about Mountain Goat Trail, Hears Updates on Community Parks Project

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the March 5 dinner meeting of the Sewanee Civic Association, members and guests heard updates on the Community Chest and parks programs. In their presentation on the Mountain Goat Trail, the featured speakers cited some impressive benefits to the community.

Reporting on the renovation of Elliott Park, Parks Committee chair Stephen Burnett said the request-for-information phase was nearly complete. Updating the Civic Association on the Dog Park, Phil White said the initiative was meeting all of its regular monthly bills, but donations were needed for the two shelters planned for the facility. The shelters will offer pet owners protection from rain and sun. Donations can be made at Southern Community Bank.

Patrick Dean and Janice Thomas, representing the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance (MGTA), provided an overview of the trail project which, when complete, will extend 32.5 miles from Cowan to Palmer, following the path of the Mountain Goat Railroad constructed in the 1850s to transport coal from the mountain to the valley.

Ten years ago, Sewanee teenager Ian Prunty launched the trail project, raising money for the first two-mile section on the Domain of the University of the South. Although the region offers many hiking trails, most are for the able-bodied. The paved, 10-footwide Mountain Goat Trail is unique for being accessible to people of all levels of ability.

For many years, the coal mining communities on the railroad route prospered, but when coal resources dwindled, the economies of the communities suffered greatly. 

Under the direction of Chip Manning with the Babson Center for Global Commerce, University students conducted an economic impact study which showed an 80 percent completed trail would bring $1.2 million annually to towns on the trail route, with the greatest benefit expected in the severely economically depressed Tracy City community.

The next phase, scheduled to begin this spring, will extend from St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School to Mountain Outfitters in Monteagle, with 80 percent of the funding coming from a Tennessee Department of Transportation grant. 

The MGTA has already purchased 60 percent of the property needed for the Monteagle to Tracy City leg, and favorable negotiations are underway with CSX Railroad ,which owns most of the former rail bed earmarked for the rest of the route.