Summer may be over, but Monongalia County’s Mason-Dixon Historical Park is as hot as ever.
Last month, the West Virginia Department of Tourism announced the property would become just the second county-operated park in West Virginia to receive a coveted “Almost Heaven” swing.
Now, the park is being recognized by the West Virginia Recreation and Parks Association as one of two 2024 recipients of the James L. McClelland Public Park and Recreation Award.
Doug Comer is the superintendent of parks and recreation for Clarksburg and serves as chair of the WVRPA Awards Committee.
He said the group received “a slew” of nominations and ultimately decided to grant two awards — one for the city of Bluefield’s new Ridge Runner Fun Zone and one for the Mason-Dixon Historical Park Trail System.
According to the WVRPA website, the award recognizes “Exceptional park and recreation areas, spaces or facilities, with emphasis placed on design, creativity, environmental adaptability, function, usage, and community and where applicable, inter-agency involvement in planning.”
Comer presented the award to J.R. Petsko, the county’s director of parks and recreation, during Wednesday’s Monongalia County Commission meeting.
“We take a lot of pride and a lot of seriousness in what we do. Our job is to create recreation and look outside the box. What J.R. did with this project and the Mason-Dixon Historical Park Trail System is definitely something we wanted to take a look at,” Comer said. “J.R. is doing some great things out there and it’s definitely getting noticed throughout the state. He put a lot of time into this.”
Since 2016, access throughout the historic, 295-acre park has grown from a single trail — essentially a service road for park staff — to a miles-long trail network that includes themed paths like the Fairy Door Trail and Space Trail as well as trails to scenic and historic locations like Tucker Falls, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon’s Third Crossing of Dunkard Creek and Mason and Dixon’s final survey point, atop Brown’s Hill.
Petsko said the award is the culmination of eight years of work undertaken by a small army of people.
He said the trail system has been the recipient of more than 2,000 volunteer hours and five Eagle Scout projects over the years as well as notable contributions from the local arts community (Fairy Door Trail), North Elementary students (Space Trail) and the West Virginia Society of Professional Surveyors, among others.
Lastly, he said Mason-Dixon Historical Park Superintendent Angela Hinerman and her crew keep it all clean and welcoming for park users.
“We developed this trail system to not only allow people to go and escape their lives and take a walk, but we built this to bring events to our facility,” Petsko said.
It was noted the park has become a focal point for community recreation, including trail runs, mountain bike races, guided hikes and bird-watching tours.
It will receive some national attention in 2025 when it serves as one of the locations for GeoWoodstock, the largest-annual geocaching event and conference in North America.
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