National Historic Trail is a designation for a protected area in the United States containing historic trails and surrounding areas. They are part of the National Trails System.
National Historic Trails were authorized under the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-625), amending the National Trails System Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-543), which had introduced National Scenic Trails and National Recreation Trails. National Scenic Trails and National Historic Trails may only be designated by an act of Congress.
National Historic Trails are designated to protect the remains of significant overland or water routes to reflect the history of the nation. Most of them are highway routes and are not hiking trails, although they provide opportunities for hiking and other outdoor activities along their routes. Only one is a water trail, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.
Read more about National Historic Trail: List of National Historic Trails
Famous quotes containing the words national, historic and/or trail:
“It is no part of the functions of the National Government to find employment for the people, and if we were to appropriate a hundred millions for his purpose, we should only be taxing 40 millions of people to keep a few thousand employed.”
—James A. Garfield (1831–1881)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Perhaps of all our untamed quadrupeds, the fox has obtained the widest and most familiar reputation.... His recent tracks still give variety to a winter’s walk. I tread in the steps of the fox that has gone before me by some hours, or which perhaps I have started, with such a tip-toe of expectation as if I were on the trail of the Spirit itself which resides in the wood, and expected soon to catch it in its lair.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)