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Side view of railroad trestle at Bennington end of trail. Digital picture by Kenyon F. Karl on July 15, 1998.
View across railroad trestle at Bennington end of trail. Digital picture by Kenyon F. Karl on July 15, 1998.
The Rail-trail begins near the large red brick mill buildings the Monadnock Paper Company mill on North Main Street in Bennington. Travelers along Route 202 can't avoid noticing this mill building at the back of a a lush setting that begins with an attractive concrete arch bridge and an expanse of green lawn. The railroad runs behind this mill building and crosses both the road in front of the mill and the Contoocook River on a wooden trestle. Drivers of large vehicles must pay attention to the exceptionally low clearance under this railroad trestle!
The entrance to the trail is adjacent to a chain link fence just east of the wooden railroad trestle that crosses both the river and the road. This trail is marked with snowmobile trail signs, and runs north then west a short distance to a trail junction at the north end of the railroad trestle. A narrow trail runs north of this junction alongside the railroad tracks, veering away whenever possible, to the end of the track about a quarter mile north of the mill.
A full-width Rail-trail then continues north from the end of the track.
There
is no designated parking area for the trail. But several
parking spaces are provided for mill visitors
just west of the railroad trestle. A large parking lot for
restaurant patrons is located on both sides of Alberto's
Restaurant, just out of sight across a side street east of the
trail entrance. Sine these parking lots are privately maintained, trail users
must choose parking spots that do not inconvenience potential mill visitors
and restaurant patrons!
Alberto's Restaurant is a short distance east of the trail
entrance. This restaurant is located in an old house and apparently offers an Italian Cuisine
with liquor service, from 5 pm Monday through Saturday, and from
5 to 8 pm on Sunday.
Former Bennington Depot. Digital picture by Kenyon F. Karl on July 15, 1998.
The snowmobile trail signs at the junction imply that the trail also runs south of to Hancock. But trail wear suggests that only a small number of hikers and bikers cross the railroad trestle to use the narrow trail alongside the track south of the trestle to the Bennington Depot. Furthermore, there is no physical evidence of warm weather trail usage south of the Bennington Depot.
Note also that the volume of traffic on North Main Street is low enough that it appears to be a reasonable route into downtown Bennington.
The business district of Bennington is less than a half-mile east of the Depot across the nearby river bridge, which presumably contains a post office and a small convenience store, and possibly a restaurant. Unfortunately, the existence of these facilities was not specifically checked on July 15, 1998.
Sign images are from the Manual of Traffic Signs by Richard C. Moeur.
Updated on February 22, 2001 by Kenyon F.
Karl <[email protected]>.
Unintentional errors are likely!
