While hiking trails at White Clay Creek State Park provide a perfect walking destination for many residents and visitors to the area, most of these paths were once roadbeds for steam locomotives that transported both people and goods between Chester County and Wilmington, writes Roger Morris for The Hunt magazine.
Landenberg was once the nexus of most of this traffic. The first train reached the town a century and a half ago, in 1872, as part of the Wilmington & Western Railroad.
Soon, other railroads followed, with the Pomeroy and Newark Railroad and the once-powerful B&O (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) also sending their trains along White Clay Creek.
The railroad was especially popular among farmers, who found it more cost-effective to send their produce to markets in Delaware via rail rather than using horse-drawn wagons.
Additionally, the railroads serviced mills that produced woolen goods and flour, as well as spokes for wooden wheels.
Rail traffic in the area declined in the first half of the 20th century. Most of the iron rails were removed during World War II and many wooden trestles gradually disappeared as well, leaving behind paths that are today used by hikers.
Read more about the history of the area in The Hunt magazine.
