Build your own hike. Families and youth groups walk it. A community keeps it going. Free.
Some of my favorite weekend trips as a Scout were historic hikes. Exploring old forts, walking around St. Augustine and taking the ferry to Fort Matanzas became core memories of my time in Scouting.
Years later, as a Scoutmaster, I wanted to share those hikes with my troop. They were hard to find, and most were out of date. One cemetery in St. Augustine keeps a stack of papers with the quiz answers, because nobody can reach the hike's maintainer.
HistoricTrails.org is a new way to build these hikes and keep them going. When one person steps away, the community carries the hike on.
— Gregg
You share it under a non-exclusive CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Read the terms
Local history usually lives in one person. When that person retires, moves away or dies, the tours and the stories go with them.
History lasts when a community holds it. People who care about the place walk your hike and help keep it right. When you step away, another member can take it on. Your hike gets maintained instead of replaced.
Build one and become part of that history yourself.
You know a place. Maybe it is the blocks around the courthouse square or the road out to the old mill. You know which building burned and who rebuilt it. You have told these stories to friends for years. Nobody has written them down.
So you walk it one more time with the stories in mind. You pick the stops that are worth standing still for. At home you write what happened at each one and add a photo that shows what to look for.
A friend who knows the town reads the draft first. They catch a wrong date and ask about a stop you had skipped. You fix both and publish.
Then one Saturday morning a youth group walks it. The kids argue over the quiz question at the mill. Your stories are out walking without you.
The builder handles the rest.