What Is The Magothy River Water Trail?

Posted

The Magothy River Water Trail was created by the Magothy River Association (MRA), with funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, to provide a unique guide to the river. The MRA’s goal was to educate and engage the public in exploring the Magothy River, especially by kayak or other small boat. MRA members hope that people who are exposed to the beauty of the river by exploring its hidden coves and creeks will become its stewards, and will protect the waterway now and in the future. In addition to a mileage chart, the Water Trail brochure lists special points of interest, denoting which have kayak-only access and which have corresponding videos.

The most unique aspect of the Water Trail guide is that it offers hyperlinks to videos of the Magothy’s wonderful creeks and coves, and narratives to provide more in-depth knowledge of the river’s treasures and problems. Numerous coves are marked as “hidden gems,” as they are obscured from view unless you know where to enter. The map has links to 18 video clips, with more to come. The video clips include footage of Lake Placid, Broad Creek, Blackhole Creek and other places.

The MRA has printed thousands of map copies, which have been placed at local marinas and distributed to local communities. Copies can also be found at two kiosks, which are placed at Beachwood Park in Pasadena and Spriggs Farm Park in Arnold, the only two public launch sites for kayaks on the Magothy River. In addition to the pocket-sized maps, the kiosks hold poster-size versions of the map.

The MRA simultaneously launched its Living History project, which is an ongoing effort to interview and videotape the stories of longtime residents who have lived for many years along the river and can document through stories and old photographs what life used to be like here. Those living history videos are linked to the Water Trail project. MRA is actively recruiting longtime residents of the Magothy River watershed to tell their stories and share their photos of life on the Magothy in the past. An example can be found in the Broad Creek video, with its link to Sybil Looper Chandler’s story of the home she built on the river in the 1950s. Through the Cattail Creek video, viewers can link to Scott Jay’s entertaining stories of Severna Park in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Residents with stories that they would like share should contact MRA President Paul Spadaro at president@magothyriver.org.

Many parts of this project have been done by volunteers, including the map creation, building of the kiosks, artwork for the map, exploration of the Magothy River “gems” by kayak and small boat, identification of points of interest, creation of the Treasure Hunt quiz, narration of the videos, and creation of many videos. Many hours were spent by volunteers on the layout of the map and its elements, including the mileage chart.

The Magothy River Water Trail map is also available online through the MRA website (www.magothy river.org/projects/water trail).

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here