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When I came for my interview, RTC’s
director of trail development at that time,
Peter Harnik—who’s also a co-founder—
had a big map on one of the walls with
pins in two colors: One color marked
completed rail-trails, and another marked
rail-trail projects. The pins were distrib-
uted all over the U.S.—except for in the
southern states. You could see a few pins
in Virginia and Florida and one in South
Carolina, but other than that, the region
was completely blank.
I remember thinking to myself, “Oh
my—another area where the south is run-
ning behind the rest of the country! I hope
I get this job, because I have to do some-
thing about this!”
How did you first get involved in
the creation of the Silver Comet and
Chief Ladiga Trail?
On my first day of work, Peter handed me
a “Notice of Intent to Abandon” for a rail
corridor in Alabama that stretched from
Piedmont to just over the Georgia border.
He said, “You have to make this a rail-
trail.” So I started making calls to potential
local supporters. I called Information,
which provided a phone number for the
mayor of Piedmont. But when I called, I
W
hen Marianne Wesley
Fowler came to Rails-to-
Trails Conservancy (RTC)
in 1988, tasked with
launching a formal rail-trail movement in
the South, the region had just a few known
rail-trails. She did not know that in less
than three decades, the South (where she
grew up) would have a burgeoning trail
network, her first project would become
a legendary trail system, and her advocacy
efforts on Capitol Hill would help secure
and protect hundreds of millions of
dedicated federal trail funds.
As RTC’s senior strategist for policy
advocacy, Fowler continues to generate
Congressional support for trails today. In
2014, RTC presented her with a Doppelt
Family Rail-Trail Champion award in
recognition of her contributions to the
national rail-trail movement.
Rails to Trails
magazine recently sat
down with Fowler to discuss the inspira-
tions and sweat equity behind the early
days of her work and the creation of the
legendary Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga
trail system.
Why was the South a focus of RTC’s work
in the early days?
The Early Days of the
Southern Rail-Trail
Movement and the
Creation of a Legendary
Trail System
By Amy Kapp
was told I’d reached the Bennett Lumber
Company, which I had noticed in some
paper work was the same company that
was opposing the abandonment. The
mayor happened to be the owner of the
company! When I finally managed to get
in touch with him, he told me, “We don’t
do rail-trails,” and that the rail line was too
important to be abandoned anyway.
But it was abandoned, and after that,
people in Piedmont started to take an
interest in turning it into a rail-trail. I held
a public meeting, during which an impec-
cably dressed man in a white suit came in
and sat down. After a few minutes of hear-
ing me talk, he suddenly stood up and bel-
lowed, “I know this little lady! She called
me on the telephone and told me the line
was going to be abandoned! We better lis-
ten to her—because she knows what she’s
talking about.” And from that point on, he
was one of the biggest supporters of what
became the Chief Ladiga Trail.
Why do you think he changed his mind?
I think he saw me up there in front of
everyone, officiating, and I had been cor-
rect about the abandonment as well—and
I guess the combination just convinced
him I knew what I was doing.
MARIANNE
WESLEY
FOWLER
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