Lehigh Trail

After World War II, an unprecedented construction boom led the Lehigh Portland Cement Company to expand its operations beyond Allentown, Pennsylvania, opening new plants across the United States, including its southeast operation in Bunnell, Florida. In 1952, track was laid to create a rail spur from the cement plant just east of present day Colbert Lane westward to the Florida East Coast Railway in Bunnell, and an average of one hundred and fifty rail cars of cement were transported daily. The switchyard at the eastern end of what is now the Lehigh Trail was busy enough that the Florida East Coast Railroad maintained a switch engine on the premises. After operating since 1952, labor disputes and economic uncertainty forced the Lehigh Cement Company plant and rail spur to close in 1965. One lone stack remains where the plant once stood. The abandoned rail spur later became the route of the Lehigh Greenway Rail Trail after the land was purchased in 2001 by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Greenways and Trail Program. Completed in 2010 with state and federal funding, the 12-foot-wide asphalt trail extends 6.7 miles through natural ecosystem, coastal strand community, and urban terrain, providing a safe non-motorized route between residential and public areas in Bunnell, Palm Coast, and Flagler Beach through a collaborative effort of Flagler County, the City of Palm Coast, and the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Greenway and Trails.

Palm Coast, Florida · United States