SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - The Georgetown-Lewes and Junction & Breakwater Trail together give cyclists more than 20 miles to ride each way. The route is up against other trails in the country to become the 35th member of the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame.
Seagreen on Baltimore Avenue rents bikes to at least a dozen groups of customers a day this time of year, some who ride all the way to Georgetown. Owner Frank Cole says the trails deserve to be in the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame due to their safety and beauty.
"The word has kind of gotten out that if you like cycling and you want to do a beach vacation, then this is the place to be nowadays," Cole says.
Fred and Collin Bube are regular riders and have seen the Junction & Breakwater Trail evolve.
"Since they put this section in here, we don't have to do the red light anymore, but the woods they have, we go through a couple woods sections and you don't even see any houses there for a few sections," says Fred Bube.
"I like the animals," Collin Bube says. "We see a lot of turtles and deer and cats."
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy says Hall of Fame inductees are selected base on trail use, scenic value, historical significance and more. On their website, you can vote for the Georgetown-Lewes and Junction& Breakwater trails as many times as you want.
"The Georgetown-Lewes Trail remained a railroad just up until the past five years or so and then with the decommissioning of that rail line, really presented a unique opportunity to transform it into a multi-use low-stress trails," says DelDOT Director of Community Relations C.R. McLeod.
McLeod says the Georgetown-Lewes Trail saw 1.2 million trips in 2020, but as the two rail-trails gain cyclists, he hopes they'll also gain a Hall of Fame title.
DelDOT says the trails combined will be about 35 miles when the Georgetown-Lewes Trail is complete in a couple of years, but you can vote to put them in the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame through Friday.
Click here to vote.