Since the 1990s, the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail has offered safe passage to people bicycling, running, walking, commuting and exercising across a growing number of Connecticut and Massachusetts miles. From the south, it rolls through Yale University’s storied campus before linking New Haven neighborhoods to Hamden, Cheshire and Southington. Farther north, a longstanding gap in Plainville is soon to be filled, before continuing up through Farmington, Avon and Simsbury en route to the Massachusetts border, where its Bay State miles are about two-thirds complete. In both states, it’s become a magnet for trail connections. (See sidebar.)
Developed piecemeal on a former canalway turned railway through citizen-led efforts, the trail has gained widespread buy-in from neighboring communities and state-level partners. It also serves as a key link along the ambitious East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile, 15-state project. In Simsbury, a trailhead sign lets hikers, bikers, runners, cross-country skiers and other trail users know the distance to each of the East Coast Greenway’s eventual endpoints: 706 miles to Calais, Maine; 2,194 to Key West, Florida. (The skiers might want to aim for Calais.)
This article was originally published in the Winter 2025 issue of Rails to Trails magazine and has been reposted here in an edited format.