Benefits to Recreation, Health and Alternative Transportation

• Envision a shady scenic trail where people of all ages can take in fresh air and exercise at their own pace. A pastoral greenway free of the hazards, noise, or pollution of automobile traffic. A pleasant route where commuters can enjoy their trip to work or school on foot or bicycle.

Benefits to History and Education

• Envision standing at the banks of a spring where settlers gathered during the American Revolution and named this frontier land for the Battle of Lexington. Admire National Historic Landmarks built by pioneer Kentuckians. Take a walk with your children and learn first hand about Lexington’s past. Dry-laid stone settlers’ houses (circa 1790), an old stone mill (circa 1820), an historic rail line (circa 1830), an historic farmstead (circa 1850), and a former bourbon distillery are all still present beside the creek. The trail will reconnect Lexingtonians with the rich and varied history that still remains along the banks of Town Branch.

Benefits to Environment and Education.

• Envision yourself listening to the soft gurgle of Town Branch as it winds through healthy masses of native vegetation. Enjoy watching for birds and other native wildlife that have returned to their restored habitat. Follow interpretive signs that explain the natural history and ecolo gy of the creek corridor. Town Branch Trail will help us all to restore Town Branch Creek. When the creek becomes a popular public asset, the pollution that has made the Town Branch one of the state’s most degraded waterways will no longer be tolerated. With everyone working together, we can restore the creek to better serve wildlife, water quality, and flood control.

Benefits to Community and Economic Development.

• Envision shopping in a creek-side market filled with the goods of local artisans and farmers. Imagine dinner at an outdoor café beside restored dry-laid stone creek banks. Town Branch Trail will provide a scenic venue for shopping, dining and entertainment, fostering a more vibrant pedestrian tourism in Downtown Lexington. The trail will attract visitors and local citizens, providing a vital component in Lexington’s urban renaissance. The trail will help to transform urban industrial areas and older neighborhoods that have witnessed decades of decline. By investing in an attractive shared-use greenway trail, Lexington will provide the necessary catalyst for the reinvestment and redevelopment that much of the creek corridor needs.

Landmarks along Town Branch Trail

Download TBT 4-page Guide (1.6 Megabyte PDF)