Matthew Henson State Park is a publicly owned greenway in Montgomery County, Maryland, along Turkey Branch, a tributary of Rock Creek, and is named for Maryland-born Arctic explorer Matthew Henson. Land acquired by the state in the 1950s was once tied to road plans, but after local residents pushed to preserve the stream valley corridor, the Maryland legislature in 1989 set aside 83 acres as state park land and 117 acres as county park land. Its main feature is the Matthew Henson Trail, a 4.5-mile hard-surface hiking and biking route completed in 2009, with later safety upgrades at the Veirs Mill Road crossing after two cyclist deaths.