Greenville Bike Trail - Greenville Trailhead

Greenville Bike Trail - Greenville Trailhead. . , Welcome to the Grenville Bike Trail, The Grenville Bike Trail (blue) is a three mile hard-surface trail that connects the City of Greenville with the historic town site of Old Greenville. The trail is accessible for bicycles and pedestrians. Dogs are welcome, but must be kept on a leash. Parking, restroom facilities, and drinking water are available ay the south end of the trail in the Greenville Recreation Area at Wappapello Lake., The Bike Trail crosses under the U.S. Route 67 Expressway in a lighted tunnel. One mile to the south, a spur of the trail to the west provides access to a quiet and scenic spot along the St. Francis River. The round trip distance to the river access is 2.8 miles., The south end of the Bike Trail connects with the Memory Lane Trail (red) in the Greenville Recreation Area at Wappapello Lake. The hard-surfaced Memory Lane Trail is routed along the streets and sidewalks of the "ghost town" of Old Greenville. A segment of the Memory Lane Trail is also part of the Trail of Tears national Historic Trail. Interpretive waysides detailing various aspects of Old Greenville's history are installed along the Memory Lane Trail and at the Bettis Ford site in the Greenville Recreation Area., A Path Through Time, The Bike Trail follows the route of the historic Greenville-Fredericktown Road. That road began as an ancient Indian trail, In prehistoric times, it led Indians to rock outcrops in the St. Francois Mountains where material for making stone tools was quarried. During the French and Spanish colonial period [1714-1803], that ancient path became the principal overland route linking St. Louis, and the valuable lead mines of Upper Louisiana near Fredericktown, with the towns of Natchitoches and New Orleans in Lower Louisiana., Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the path became an important route for westward migration and a great many early pioneer settlers traveled by horse and wagon to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas over this road., In 1820, Moses Austin rode south along this road from his home in Potosi, Missouri, to San Antonio, where he met with the Spanish governor and received a land grant and permission to bring 300 Anglo-American families to settle Texas. Austin fell ill during his return trip along the road and died before he could implement that plan. On his deathbed he challenged his son to carry on with that vision for the American colonization of Texas and Moses Austin's bold plan was then realized by his son Stephen F. Austin., In November 1835, Daniel Cloud and Peter Bailey, young lawyers in search of a place to establish their new law practice, followed the road south through Missouri and Arkansas. But somewhere along the way, their life plans changed. From Natchitoches, Louisiana, Cloud wrote a letter home to his family announcing their decision to join in the struggle for the liberty and independence of Texas. Ten weeks later, on march 6, 1836, Cloud and Bailey died alongside William Travis, James Bowie, and David Crockett, defending the Alamo., By 1859, stagecoaches carrying mail, freight, and passengers between the southern end of the Iron Mountain Railroad at Pilot Knob and Little Rock, Arkansas, passed over this road three times a week., The Greenville-Fredericktown Road remained a major travel route during the Civil War. On September 22, 1864, General James F. Fagan led the central column of General Sterling Price's Army of Missouri, a force of over 4000 men, up this road en route to the Battle of Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob. In 1862 a brief skirmish was fought along the road near Old Greenville. That event is interpreted at the skirmish site, 1.7 miles to the south., Following the Civil war, the road's many users included the notorious James-Younger Gang, who robbed a bank in Ste. Genevieve on May 27,1873, and then a southbound train on the Iron Mountain Railroad at Gad's Hill, just 15 miles from here, on January 31,1874., We hope you enjoy the Greenville Bike Trail and appreciated some of the rich and storied history of this path through time.