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General News: Village Hiking Trail Clean-up by Scouts
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| Matt Sweet and Dan Grodence (r) work on the trail. |
January 13, 2008
A group of four teenage boys was down by the river on Sunday, doing the final clean-up of an old road off Dock Hill Road that will become the final leg of the Highlands Trail hiking path next spring.
The clean-up project is spearheaded by Dan Grodence, a high school senior who undertook the work to gain his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts. He is a member of Troop 118 in Cornwall.
Grodence started the clean up of the old road last fall, overseeing a team of other scouts who volunteered to help a fellow scout achieve his goal of Eagle status. Matt Sweet, Billy Lyons, and Ryan Reutersham came out to cut and haul logs that edge the trail this sunny Sunday, planning to get the final ones in place before the forecast snow covered the old road once again.
Grodence says that the hardest part of the work was clearing out the debris from the abandoned roadway to open it into a useable walking trail. As the trail winds down towards the river, it meanders past old stonewalls and foundations that the scout team cleaned up for hikers to see. About a hundred yard before the railroad track, it veers sharply to the left and crosses a steam. Plans call for the village to build a bridge over the water one day, Grodence says.
Cornwall-on-Hudson mayor Joseph Gross has been a supporter of the scouts’ effort to reclaim the old road and Storm King Adventure Tours has donated money for the materials to build two benches and two historic plaques this spring. Grodence says the plaques will describe the role of Storm King Mountain and the fight to stop Con Edison from building a power plant there 40 years ago. They will also describe the once thriving community of Cornwall Landing that sat at the end of the trail.
“The work helps me develop planning skills and organizational skills,” Grodence notes. “I can show that I have a good work ethic and leadership ability.” Achieving Eagle Scout rank is important to Grodence, who has been a scout since he was five years old. “People gain a new respect for you. That’s why I’m doing it.”
Comments:
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Hats off to Dan Grodence for caring enough about the community to make the abandoned Clark St.roadway his Eagle Scout Project. It will be great to have this road for walking. THANKS MUCH!!
posted by bj123 on 01/14/08 at 5:10 PM
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