By Joe Tennis Bristol Herald Courier roanoke.com
ABINGDON — It’s one thing to turn a former rail line into a trail; it’s quite another to create a tourist attraction that generates millions of dollars in annual revenue and lands in a hall of fame.
That’s the honor officially granted Monday to the Virginia Creeper Trail, by the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy. The honor ranks the Creeper among only 26 other rail trails in country, said Marianne Fowler, the senior strategist for policy advocacy at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

During a celebration of the Hall of Fame honor Monday, held at the Abingdon trailhead, former 9th District U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher shared a few of the memories of the 40-year journey from tired rail line to successful Creeper Trail.

Boucher said it all began with an idea from former Abingdon Councilman French Moore .

“I don’t think any of the people involved in that early effort could truly foresee what a tremendous success this trail would become,” Boucher said. “It is sustained today by continual community effort.”

Boucher also praised the “scores of volunteers” from the Virginia Creeper Trail Club as well as the staff of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area that are responsible for making the trail such an attraction.

Today, he said, the Virginia Creeper Trail attracts about 250,000 visitors a year and makes an estimated $25 million annual contribution to the tourism economies of Abingdon, Damascus and Washington County.

Kevin Costello, Abingdon’s director of tourism, said the honor “shows how respected the trail system is and how well-known it is and revered. You can’t get any more legitimate than being inducted into a hall of fame, right?”

What was once called the Virginia-Carolina Railway — or “V-C,” nicknamed the “Virginia Creeper” — eventually became the Abingdon Branch of the Norfolk and Western Railway. That line took a scenic journey to Ashe County, North Carolina, stretching as far as 76 miles, but was often wrought by floods, including devastating wipeouts during the Great Depression.

Still, the little railroad rambled on, crossing creeks and ravines and climbing mountains. But it was losing money through the decades after the 1940s and eventually shut down on March 31, 1977.

Within a few years, however, the path of the branch line was salvaged, amid some controversy, and turned into a trail. It officially opened in 1987.

“French Moore and Dr. David Brillhart were the spearheads behind this,” Abingdon Town Council member Rick Humphreys said. “You cannot say enough about them or say it often enough.”

Moore, a retired dentist, and the late Brillhart campaigned to turn the old railroad into a trail through the 1970s and 1980s, and enlisted the help of Boucher along the way.

Humphreys said Boucher’s foresight helped the trail became a reality, as it is now shared between the towns of Abingdon and Damascus and the U.S. Forest Service, as part of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area.

“We have, because of this, increased our tourism probably three-fold,” Humphreys said. “Also, the main thing is we have provided the people who live here a quality of life that’s hard to find anywhere else.”

The Hall of Fame honor puts the 34-mile-long Creeper Trail in league with the 45-mile Washington and Old Dominion Trail of Northern Virginia, and the 78-mile Greenbrier River Trail in West Virginia.

Pepper Schuette, a manager at Sundog Outfitters and Adventure Damascus in Damascus, said having the Hall of Fame distinction could help the bike-shuttle business.

“I think it gives a lot more attention to the trail in general,” Schuette said. “It gives us a wider audience. We’ve definitely grown beyond being just a local trail.”

The Creeper continually attracts riders in all kinds of weather — spring, summer, winter, fall.

“The scenery is the best part about the trail,” said 32-year-old Dustin Powers, a Glade Spring resident who took two hours Friday to ride the trail from Whitetop Station to Damascus.

Riding the trail remains a hobby for Boucher, who maintains a residence in Abingdon while practicing law in Washington, District of Columbia.

“Each year, this trail and the usage that it has will be better and will continue to grow,” Boucher predicted. “That means ever-greater economic benefits for Abingdon, Damascus and Washington County.