Moonville Rail Trail group meets monthly in McArthur
The Moonville Rail Trail group meets at Hope Schoolhouse each month while the trail pushes toward two final bridges, a bikeway connection and wider county access.
The Moonville Rail Trail Association is keeping the trail’s future in public view with a standing monthly meeting at the Hope Schoolhouse Interpretive Center in McArthur, where volunteers and members gather on the third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at 27300 Wheelabout Road.
That routine matters because the Moonville Rail Trail is no small local path. County tourism materials describe it as a 16-mile rail trail running through Vinton and Athens counties, and a 2025 partnership agreement places the Vinton County Park District in charge of maintaining, operating and administrating the route. In practical terms, the monthly meeting is where upkeep, access, promotion and long-range decisions are kept moving while the trail continues to develop as one of the county’s signature outdoor attractions.
The association itself dates to April 2001 and is organized as a local 501(c)3 nonprofit. County materials say it is made up of volunteers and dues-paying members, and that it welcomes anyone willing to contribute time and energy to maintain the trail and preserve its historic railway tunnels. That makes the monthly gathering more than an administrative stop. It is the place where the county’s trail system depends on volunteer labor, public coordination and a steady supply of hands willing to help.
The most visible work has already been substantial. Ohio Department of Transportation materials say a $1.1 million improvement project opened 12.2 previously inaccessible miles of trail, installed seven new bridges and added grading and gravel improvements. County trail materials say earlier accomplishments included securing about 10 miles of unused railroad bed, installing 11 bridges and receiving about nine grants. The next public-facing milestone is just as concrete: the two final bridges still need to be installed before the trail can fully advance toward its planned connections.
Those plans are ambitious. County materials say the group’s future work includes connecting the Moonville Rail Trail to the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway and extending the trail south toward Lake Alma State Park. A broader regional trail concept tied to the Appalachian Ohio Mobility Corridor could eventually exceed 125 miles, which gives the McArthur meeting room a reach far beyond a single township or forest corridor.
The Hope Schoolhouse setting reinforces that larger role. Ohio Department of Natural Resources says the schoolhouse was restored in 1998 and now serves as an interpretive center within Zaleski State Forest near Lake Hope State Park. County materials add that it was purchased as part of a state park and renovated to become the interpretive center. The building links the trail to local history, tourism and preservation in a way that is hard to miss.
That history still sits plainly on the landscape. Sources describe Moonville as a former railroad town tied to the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad, which crossed Vinton County around 1856 and later became part of the Baltimore and Ohio system in 1883. Today, only the old schoolhouse foundation, a train tunnel and the community cemetery remain in Moonville. The monthly meetings at Hope Schoolhouse are helping determine how much of that story is protected, how many visitors it brings, and how soon the next stretch of trail becomes usable.
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