Graham event marks 20 years of the Haw River Trail, past and future

Graham and Burlington will use a Thursday evening forum to take stock of what the Haw River Trail has delivered over two decades and what still has to be built, maintained and connected for Alamance County residents. The free “Coffee & Conversation: 20 Years of the Haw River Trail: Past, Present, & Future” event will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Burlington City Park’s Carousel Meeting Room, with online registration requested.

Nolan Carter, the Haw River Trail Coordinator for Alamance Parks, will lead the presentation for Graham Recreation & Parks and Burlington Recreation & Parks. The City of Graham says he will walk through how the trail began, the progress made over 20 years and the future vision for the trail network. Carter also is listed by Alamance Parks as Trails & Open Space Coordinator, a sign that the trail is part of a broader county planning agenda, not just a single recreation project.

That bigger agenda has been tied for years to regional trail and greenway work, including the Mountains-to-Sea Trail corridor. Carter said in a 2023 interview that Alamance County and the jurisdictions along the Haw River Trail have had a memorandum of understanding since 2006, showing that the trail has been built through long-running coordination among local governments. The county’s active Great Alamance Creek Trail feasibility study, also associated with Carter, points to the next round of decisions about where Alamance County’s trail system goes from here.

The public money behind that effort has been modest in some cases but local in impact. Alamance County Recreation & Parks Commission minutes show that Brian Baker reported the department received a $25,000 Impact Alamance grant in 2016 to develop a trailhead and additional Haw River Trail near Valley Road in Graham. That kind of investment matters in a county where trail access can shape daily exercise, family recreation and who can reach green space without driving across town.

County records also suggest the trail has been well received by users. In 2013, commission minutes reported that 100% of Haw River Trail visitors rated the parks as excellent or good. With the trail now at a 20-year mark, the harder question for Graham and Alamance County is no longer whether the project is popular, but whether future funding, land access and corridor connections can close the gaps that remain.