Beebe Spur Rail Trail
Vermont’s northernmost rail trail, gliding along Lake Memphremagog.
History – Beebe Spur Rail Trail
History
The BSRT has changed significantly from its original development in the mid-ninteenth century a railroad and plains communituy to the trail today that connects with local towns, villages, and landscapes.
The trail’s name is derived from the historic community of Beebe Plain, which straddles the US–Canada border. A mid-nineteenth-century post office served both countries from opposite ends of the building. The town served as a railroad connection between a branch of the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad completed in 1867 and Canada’s Massawippi Valley Railway built in 1870. The Quebec Central Railway took control of the line in 1926. A subsequent owner, Canadian Pacific Railway, discontinued use on the line in 1990 and removed the tracks in 1992.
The Beebe Spur Rail Trail follows that old Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad line from Newport to the border, while the 11.8-mile Sentier Nature Tomifobia uses the Massawippi Valley Railway corridor in Canada.
May 23, 2023