As advocates for the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, we are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Nancy Alderman, who was one of the co-founders of the Farmington Canal Rail-to-Trail Association in 1988, when the trail did not exist at all — it was nothing more than an abandoned railroad right-of-way, a casualty of de-industrialization and systemic changes in the transportation industry. Four decades later the formerly derelict, blighted “Canal Line” is a beloved multi-use greenway that is 90% complete, an almost fully-contiguous recreational and transportation corridor, across two states, that is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of southern New England residents and visitors each year. It’s safe to say that without Nancy the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail would not have been built, or at least not in the form it exists today because considerable parts of the ROW would have been lost. Nancy not only had the vision and imagination to understand what an abandoned rail corridor could become, but she also had the political savvy to intervene with federal regulators and prevent the selling off of the corridor, giving towns like Hamden and Cheshire (and over time many others) the opportunity to preserve it as a linear park.

Everyone who walks, bikes, skates, or uses the trail today in any fashion — for exercise, for commuting, or just for fun — owes a deep debt of gratitude to Nancy and her tireless advocacy. This is to say nothing of Nancy’s other work on behalf of environmental and public health causes, a body of work which was, and is, truly momentous and extraordinary. We extend our sincere condolences to Nancy’s family and friends.