Anacostia Tributary Trails
Encyclopedia
The Anacostia Tributary Trail System (ATTS) is a unified and signed system of stream valley trails joining the Northwest Branch
, Northeast Branch
, Indian Creek and Paint Branch
stream valley parks, set aside and maintained by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
in the northeastern Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
.
. The trail system also includes the Sligo Creek Trail
, which extends approximately 9 miles (14.3 km) into Montgomery County
. The majority of the routes consist of protected stream valley parks established by M-NCPPC in the 1930s.
The trail system converges on a zero milepost in Hyattsville
in an area known as Port Towns, named after the former deepwater port of Bladensburg
located at the head of the Anacostia River, where the various tributaries converge.
The area covered by the trails corresponds with the coastal plain
section of the Anacostia watershed
, which consists of wide floodplain
s that were reserved for parkland and flood-control by the Army Corps of Engineers, using a system of levee
s and concrete embankments upon which the trails were initially built. In conjunction with the restoration of natural habitat along the adjoining stream valleys in the 1990s, M-NCPPC and Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation connected and upgraded the stream valley trails into a consistent network of approximately 24 miles (39 km) of paved 6–10 ft (1.8–3 m) off-road paths.
7 miles (11 km) of trail located between Hyattsville and Adelphi
. The paved trail terminates in the Rachel Carson Environmental Area
just south of the Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
near Adelphi Mill
. The Rachel Carson Greenway planned by M-NCPPC will extend the Northwest Branch Trail into northern Montgomery County as an unimproved hiking trail, connecting to Wheaton Regional Park.
(tributary of the Anacostia River)
Main article: Sligo Creek Trail
9 miles (14.3 km) of trail located predominately in Montgomery County, ending in Wheaton
in the vicinity of Wheaton Regional Park. The Sligo Creek trail originates at the Northwest Branch Trail at Chillum Community Park, Hyattsville, approximately 2.2 miles west of the zero milepost.
The section of trail through Takoma Park
was connected to the rest of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System in the late 1990s, as part of a storm sewer reclamation project by the WSSC
. This section was aligned to follow the path of the storm drain through the narrow valley in the vicinity of the fall line
.
A connecting trail has been proposed to connect the Anacostia Tributary Trails system to the Metropolitan Branch
rail-trail in Washington, to connect several long-distance hiker-biker trails as part of a series of coast-to-coast greenways
. The connection would terminate at the Northwest Branch Trail in the vicinity of the West Hyattsville Metro station
, approximately 1.8 miles west of the zero milepost, and would parallel the Green Line (Washington Metro)
into D.C.
, immediately north of the zero milepost, connecting to Greenbelt Park
and the College Park Metro station.
(tributary of the Anacostia River)
1.1 mile (1.8 km) of trail located on the edge of Washington along the head of the Anacostia in Colmar Manor
, immediately south of the zero milepost. Trail currently ends at Dueling Creek
, short of the Washington line.
. The Northeast Branch Trail terminates at the zero milepost of the Paint Branch Trail, where this trail and several other trails split off towards Greenbelt Park
.
(tributary of the Anacostia River)
The portion of trail connected to the ATTS consists of 3.7 miles (6 km) of signed trail between the College Park Airport and Museum
and Cherry Hill Road in College Park
.
A separate system of trails in the upper Paint Branch watershed has been constructed in the Montgomery County portion of Paint Branch Park. The two trail systems are separated by the fall line
and the Beltway-I-95
interchange.
Northwest Branch Anacostia River
Northwest Branch Anacostia River is a free-flowing stream in Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Anacostia River, which flows to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...
, Northeast Branch
Anacostia River
The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point. It is approximately long...
, Indian Creek and Paint Branch
Paint Branch
Paint Branch is a stream that flows through Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Northeast Branch, which flows to the Anacostia River, Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay....
stream valley parks, set aside and maintained by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland.-History:...
in the northeastern Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Description
The system includes several hiker-biker trails, primarily: the Northeast Branch Trail, the Northwest Branch Trail, and the Paint Branch Trail; all of which are located in located in Prince George's CountyPrince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
. The trail system also includes the Sligo Creek Trail
Sligo Creek Trail
Sligo Creek Trail is a paved hiker-biker trail running along Sligo Creek in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Most of the trail passes through tree-filled parkland. The trail and surrounding park is a popular place for locals to jog, walk, bicycle, roller-skate, and take their children to the...
, which extends approximately 9 miles (14.3 km) into Montgomery County
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...
. The majority of the routes consist of protected stream valley parks established by M-NCPPC in the 1930s.
The trail system converges on a zero milepost in Hyattsville
Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...
in an area known as Port Towns, named after the former deepwater port of Bladensburg
Bladensburg, Maryland
Bladensburg is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 7,661 at the 2000 census.Bladensburg is from central Washington, DC...
located at the head of the Anacostia River, where the various tributaries converge.
The area covered by the trails corresponds with the coastal plain
Coastal plain
A coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in eastern South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity...
section of the Anacostia watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
, which consists of wide floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
s that were reserved for parkland and flood-control by the Army Corps of Engineers, using a system of levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
s and concrete embankments upon which the trails were initially built. In conjunction with the restoration of natural habitat along the adjoining stream valleys in the 1990s, M-NCPPC and Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation connected and upgraded the stream valley trails into a consistent network of approximately 24 miles (39 km) of paved 6–10 ft (1.8–3 m) off-road paths.
Northwest Branch Trail
See also: Northwest Branch Anacostia RiverNorthwest Branch Anacostia River
Northwest Branch Anacostia River is a free-flowing stream in Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Anacostia River, which flows to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...
7 miles (11 km) of trail located between Hyattsville and Adelphi
Adelphi, Maryland
Adelphi is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 14,998 at the 2000 census...
. The paved trail terminates in the Rachel Carson Environmental Area
Rachel Carson Greenway
The Rachel Carson Greenway is a planned 25-mile stretch of trails, spanning from the historic Adelphi Mill in Prince George's County north through eastern Montgomery County, Maryland to Patuxent River State Park, and incorporating existing Northwest Branch trails. The greenway was proposed as part...
just south of the Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...
near Adelphi Mill
Adelphi Mill
The Adelphi Mill, is the only surviving historic mill in Prince George's County. It is the oldest and largest mill in the Washington D.C. area.-History:...
. The Rachel Carson Greenway planned by M-NCPPC will extend the Northwest Branch Trail into northern Montgomery County as an unimproved hiking trail, connecting to Wheaton Regional Park.
Sligo Creek Trail
See also: Sligo CreekSligo Creek
Sligo Creek is a free-flowing tributary of the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River in Maryland. The creek is approximately long, with a drainage area of about .- Geography :The creek rises in the Kemp Mill section of Silver Spring in Montgomery County and...
(tributary of the Anacostia River)
Main article: Sligo Creek Trail
Sligo Creek Trail
Sligo Creek Trail is a paved hiker-biker trail running along Sligo Creek in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Most of the trail passes through tree-filled parkland. The trail and surrounding park is a popular place for locals to jog, walk, bicycle, roller-skate, and take their children to the...
9 miles (14.3 km) of trail located predominately in Montgomery County, ending in Wheaton
Wheaton, Maryland
Wheaton is an unincorporated, urbanized area in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, north of Washington, D.C., northwest of Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton , a career officer in the United States Army and volunteer from Rhode Island in the Union Army who rose to the rank of...
in the vicinity of Wheaton Regional Park. The Sligo Creek trail originates at the Northwest Branch Trail at Chillum Community Park, Hyattsville, approximately 2.2 miles west of the zero milepost.
The section of trail through Takoma Park
Takoma Park, Maryland
Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City," is a Tree City USA and a nuclear-free zone...
was connected to the rest of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System in the late 1990s, as part of a storm sewer reclamation project by the WSSC
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission provides safe drinking water and wastewater treatment for Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland. It was established on May 1, 1918. It is the eighth largest water and wastewater utility in the United States. The WSSC serves about 1.8 million...
. This section was aligned to follow the path of the storm drain through the narrow valley in the vicinity of the fall line
Fall line
A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
.
Metropolitan Branch trail connector
Main article: Metropolitan Branch TrailMetropolitan Branch Trail
The Metropolitan Branch Trail, also called the Met Branch Trail, is an shared-use trail that, when complete, will run from the Silver Spring, Maryland Transit Center to Union Station in the District of Columbia. It serves to extend the Capital Crescent Trail where it merges with the active...
A connecting trail has been proposed to connect the Anacostia Tributary Trails system to the Metropolitan Branch
Metropolitan Branch Trail
The Metropolitan Branch Trail, also called the Met Branch Trail, is an shared-use trail that, when complete, will run from the Silver Spring, Maryland Transit Center to Union Station in the District of Columbia. It serves to extend the Capital Crescent Trail where it merges with the active...
rail-trail in Washington, to connect several long-distance hiker-biker trails as part of a series of coast-to-coast greenways
Greenway (landscape)
A greenway is a long, narrow piece of land, often used for recreation and pedestrian and bicycle user traffic, and sometimes for streetcar, light rail or retail uses.- Terminology :...
. The connection would terminate at the Northwest Branch Trail in the vicinity of the West Hyattsville Metro station
West Hyattsville (Washington Metro)
West Hyattsville is a Washington Metro station in Prince George's County, Maryland on the Green Line. It is the first station in Maryland going northeast on the Green Line....
, approximately 1.8 miles west of the zero milepost, and would parallel the Green Line (Washington Metro)
Green Line (Washington Metro)
The Green Line is one of five heavy rail subway lines that constitute the Washington Metro rapid transit system in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The Green Line consists of 21 stations, with termini at Branch Avenue and at Greenbelt. The Green Line runs through Prince George's County,...
into D.C.
Northeast Branch Trail
2.5 miles (4 km) of trail located predominately along the levee of the Northeast Branch of the Anacostia River in RiverdaleRiverdale, Maryland
Riverdale is the name of two places in the State of Maryland in the United States of America:*Riverdale, Anne Arundel County, Maryland*Riverdale, Prince George's County, Maryland, now Riverdale Park, Maryland...
, immediately north of the zero milepost, connecting to Greenbelt Park
Greenbelt Park
Greenbelt Park, located in Greenbelt, Maryland, is managed by the United States National Park Service. The forested park lies approximately 10 miles northeast of Washington, D.C., and is situated just within the Capital Beltway . The park land was originally intended to form part of the green...
and the College Park Metro station.
Anacostia River Trail
See also: Anacostia RiverAnacostia River
The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point. It is approximately long...
(tributary of the Anacostia River)
1.1 mile (1.8 km) of trail located on the edge of Washington along the head of the Anacostia in Colmar Manor
Colmar Manor, Maryland
Colmar Manor is a town located in Prince George's County, Maryland. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,257. As the town developed at the beginning of the 20th century, it assumed a name derived from its proximity to the District of Columbia—the first syllable of Columbia...
, immediately south of the zero milepost. Trail currently ends at Dueling Creek
Dueling Creek
Dueling Creek is a tributary of the Anacostia River in southern Maryland in the United States.Dueling Creek is located in what is now Colmar Manor, Maryland....
, short of the Washington line.
Indian Creek Trail
1 mile (1.8 km) of trail constructed around Lake Artemisia in the vicinity of GreenbeltGreenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Contained within today's City of Greenbelt is the historic planned community now known locally as "Old Greenbelt" and designated as the Greenbelt Historic District...
. The Northeast Branch Trail terminates at the zero milepost of the Paint Branch Trail, where this trail and several other trails split off towards Greenbelt Park
Greenbelt Park
Greenbelt Park, located in Greenbelt, Maryland, is managed by the United States National Park Service. The forested park lies approximately 10 miles northeast of Washington, D.C., and is situated just within the Capital Beltway . The park land was originally intended to form part of the green...
.
Paint Branch Trail
See also: Paint BranchPaint Branch
Paint Branch is a stream that flows through Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Northeast Branch, which flows to the Anacostia River, Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay....
(tributary of the Anacostia River)
The portion of trail connected to the ATTS consists of 3.7 miles (6 km) of signed trail between the College Park Airport and Museum
College Park Airport
College Park Airport is a public airport located in the City of College Park, in Prince Georges County, Maryland, USA. It is the world's oldest continuously operated airport.-History:...
and Cherry Hill Road in College Park
College Park, Maryland
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, USA. The population was 30,413 at the 2010 census. It is best known as the home of the University of Maryland, College Park, and since 1994 the city has also been home to the "Archives II" facility of the U.S...
.
A separate system of trails in the upper Paint Branch watershed has been constructed in the Montgomery County portion of Paint Branch Park. The two trail systems are separated by the fall line
Fall line
A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
and the Beltway-I-95
Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...
interchange.
See also
- Anacostia RiverAnacostia RiverThe Anacostia River is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point. It is approximately long...
- Northwest BranchNorthwest Branch Anacostia RiverNorthwest Branch Anacostia River is a free-flowing stream in Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Anacostia River, which flows to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...
- Paint BranchPaint BranchPaint Branch is a stream that flows through Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Northeast Branch, which flows to the Anacostia River, Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay....
- Northwest Branch
- Sligo CreekSligo CreekSligo Creek is a free-flowing tributary of the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River in Maryland. The creek is approximately long, with a drainage area of about .- Geography :The creek rises in the Kemp Mill section of Silver Spring in Montgomery County and...
- Sligo Creek TrailSligo Creek TrailSligo Creek Trail is a paved hiker-biker trail running along Sligo Creek in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Most of the trail passes through tree-filled parkland. The trail and surrounding park is a popular place for locals to jog, walk, bicycle, roller-skate, and take their children to the...
- Sligo Creek Trail
- Metropolitan Branch TrailMetropolitan Branch TrailThe Metropolitan Branch Trail, also called the Met Branch Trail, is an shared-use trail that, when complete, will run from the Silver Spring, Maryland Transit Center to Union Station in the District of Columbia. It serves to extend the Capital Crescent Trail where it merges with the active...
- Hyattsville, MarylandHyattsville, MarylandHyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...