In 2004, this trail corridor was named in honor of Rachel Carson, called the mother of the modern environmental movement. When complete, the Rachel Carson Greenway Trail will be 25 miles long, connecting the Anacostia Trail System in Prince George's County to the Patuxent River State Park in the north. It will eventually connect to the Seneca Creek Greenway and the Potomac River, creating a 50-mile continuous trail system in Montgomery County. Along its route are places and themes tied to Montgomery County's agricultural heritage, mills along the Hawlings River, forest interior birds, the Holland Red Door Store at Holland's Corner, African Americans and Quakers in Sandy Spring, the night sky and the Underground Railroad, open meadows and hedgerows, prehistoric rock shelters used by local American Indians beginning about 1000 B.C., the Gilmore Mica Mine, vernal pools, the Northwest Branch, Burn Mill, Rachel Carson's life along this stream valley while she wrote Silent Spring, the Fall Line and gorge, and the area's natural treasures.
