Why Parkersburg?

Here are a few reasons (plus a P2P Corridor update)

The Ohio River in Parkersburg, West Virginia

You know you’re in for a good community meeting when a registrant emails you to say he’ll be there along with his wife and a model covered bridge:

“Be there by five with wife, a bridge, wearing a cap from Antarctica.”

That would be retired pilot, educator, and all-around idea man Stanley Cole, who attended a community meeting I hosted this week for the Parkersburg to Pittsburgh (P2P) Corridor Regional Master Plan project. Besides bringing the model to encourage the installation of prefabricated bridges along the trails, he also brought positive energy. At one point he told a young concessionaire who is renting bikes and kayaks how proud he was of him. It was a sweet moment.

Stanley Cole with the model covered bridge.

Another personal highlight of the high energy gathering was meeting Belinda Armstrong, one of the artists who painted a striking 12-peice installation in the hallway of the Wood County Resiliency Center. The collection celebrates the Mid-Ohio Valley’s connection to the river. Belinda and her husband, Ken, are the parents of a former client of mine. How is it possible that I’ve led a workshop for their daughter 200 miles away and then got to meet them in PKB?

Sharing a moment with Belinda and Ken Armstrong in front of one of her paintings.

Belinda wasn’t the only artist in the room. We had people working in the arts, in education, economic development, tourism, and more all come together to think about the promise of this corridor. When we kicked off this project in December, a Facebook commenter asked, “Why Parkersburg?” (suggesting, as Gertrude Stein once famously did, that “There’s no there there”).

After my time with this group (and others in Doddridge, Ritchie, and Harrison counties over the last couple of weeks), I can tell you why. We have some pretty amazing communities across Appalachia and along the trails that make up the P2P Corridor. It’s the people. It’s the culture. It’s the landscape. And so much more.

There’s significant work ahead, but many of the ingredients are there. Speaking of which, I had the opportunity to visit Point Park in Parkersburg. I can’t say enough about this incredible civic investment at the confluence of the Little Kanawha and Ohio rivers. This park is special! (See a short video I posted here...it’s the only way to see how fantastic the Floodwall Mural is.)

I was there in the evening and enjoyed seeing how many people were out fishing, taking their kids for a walk, and catching the sunset. This is an actively used park and would make an ideal bookend for the P2P experience. Imagine beginning a walk or ride at Point Park in Parkersburg and ending at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, both on the Ohio River! That’s part of the vision for the P2P Corridor.

If you live or work along the P2P Corridor, please join us for one of our remaining meetings and take our community survey here. Trip photos are below.

About the P2P Corridor Project

The P2P Corridor links six existing and emerging rail-trails. When complete, the trails comprising the P2P Corridor from Parkersburg, WV to Connellsville, PA will create a fully connected 180-mile system of trails, one of the longest in the U.S. The P2P meets the Great Allegheny Passage near Connellsville. Trail users can continue on to Pittsburgh using the GAP and Three Rivers Heritage Trail. The master plan project has been made possible through an Appalachian Regional Commission ARISE grant made to the National Road Heritage Corridor with matching funds from the Just Transition Fund, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, and the City of Fairmont.

Parkersburg’s Point Park at sunset.

This is part of the Floodwall Mural Project by Christopher Santer and other artists.

More from the Floodwall Mural Project.

Catfish mural by Erica Ash at the Point Park Marketplace (and offices of Greater Parkersburg CVB).