From the time the mission of the Kennett Greenway was first imagined, the plans were not merely intended to create a permanent marker along a 14-mile stretch of nature, but rather to serve as a commitment to create spaces that would create a sense of empowerment, ownership and inclusion for everyone in the community.

Over the past decade, that original model continues to be reflected, from Auburn Valley State Park at the northern tip of Delaware, through Chandler Mill Preserve and the Parrish Trail and winding through Kennett Square on its way to the Stateline Woods Preserve. In short, the Greenway has become part of a multi-modal network that connects people to wildlife and neighbor to neighbor across five municipalities and two states.

Now, in partnership with Square Roots Collective (SRC), Kennett Township, Kennett Square Borough and the Kennett Consolidated School District, the Kennett Trails Alliance (KTA) – the developmental wing of the Greenway – is in the conceptual design phase to eventually add one more notch to its achievement, one that will feature red-wing blackbirds, marsh land and cat tails.

Following a decade of conversations and currently in its design concept stages, the Legacy Fields Boardwalk Trail will begin along South Walnut Street in Kennett Square across from the YMCA and just south of the athletic fields used by Kennett High School and other local sports leagues.

Projected to provide nearly a half mile in additional trails and border Red Clay Creek in both Kennett Square Borough and Kennett Township, the trail will feature a 13-14-foot-wide boardwalk and a pavilion – to be constructed of wood and metal -- that will provide visitors with an overview of the area’s wetlands and eventually connect to Creek Road at the South Street intersection. The project is being designed by Unknown Studio, a Baltimore-based landscape architecture and urban design studio who also developed the Greenway on Chandler Mill Road.

Much like the many other segments of the Greenway, Legacy Fields Boardwalk Trail is projected to become an outdoor classroom of environmental education.

‘It’s about gathering and creating opportunities for interaction’

“The Kennett Trails Alliance always hoped that we would be able to begin discussions with the school district about a trail across the Legacy Fields property, in order to provide educational opportunities for high school students, the YMCA campers and other local organizations,” said KTA Executive Director Christina Norland. “As our partners began to acquire and dedicate more land to the Greenway and brought a lot of it through the borough, the boardwalk trail seemed like the logical next segment to pursue.

“It’s about gathering and creating opportunities for interaction. A community forms when you interact with your neighbors Creating public spaces like this – especially around athletic fields – provides opportunities to learn about nature by actually being in nature.”

“It will give visitors the feeling of truly walking through a wetland, as opposed to walking on a sidewalk,” said Anita Davidson, KTA’s director of trail development. “There are numerous studies that show that exposure to nature is very important for the state of one’s mental health. These are environments that are very important ecologically to the way our whole environment functions, to be able to have exposure to those special places will help the community see the value of stewarding these areas into the future.”

As the plans for the Legacy Fields Boardwalk Trail continue to evolve, so do the negotiations between Kennett Township and the Kennett Consolidated School District Board, who on July 8 voted to pursue either an easement or land transfer of a portion of the property to Kennett Township. At their July 17 meeting, the township’s supervisors voted to authorize the township to enter into negotiations with the school district for an easement or land transfer for the parcel, which is on Kennett High School property and owned by the school district. In addition, KTA is working with the township to establish a maintenance plan for the trail.

The Legacy Fields Boardwalk – which is scheduled to complete its design and engineering phases in the next year and conceivably start construction in 2026 -- will be the KTA’s second Greenway project in the borough in recent years. In 2022, backed by an initial $800,000 investment by SRC and funding from Chatham Financial and Pennsylvania’s Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program, and building upon work by community leaders many years ago, the agency began development on Red Clay Park, a 30-acre narrow strip of green space that scissors through the eastern portion of the borough that links Anson B. Nixon Park, the Kennett YMCA, Kennett High School, the Red Clay Room, the YMCA Adventure Park and community pool and State Street.

The project includes invasive species removal, erosion control, streambanks restoration, plantings and reforestation, as well as access to a stony beach beside the Red Clay Creek.

Similarly, the plans for the Legacy Fields Boardwalk Trail are being developed in conjunction with what the community wishes to see there, in order to maximize its value.

‘Listening, acting, listening and acting again’

As with all of projects in the Kennett Greenway, the true designers of the Boardwalk Trail will be the people who will eventually use it. Norland and Davidson said the KTA will be planning several public workshops on the project over the next year.

“We are constantly meeting with members of the community to understand what they want in their public space and on their trails,” Norland said. “We collect data through interactive experiences, including what we’re calling ‘Build Your Own Park,’ where residents can choose what they would want to see in their perfect park. We compile that data and use it to inform the basic designs of our projects.”

“It does not make sense to build things that people do not want, or to invest in infrastructure that the community will not use,” Davidson said. “It’s critical that we go through this process and at every stage of its development we include all different levels of the community and hear what their hopes and dreams are.

“It’s about listening, acting, listening and acting again, and then building and maintaining it. When people are involved in the process of designing these public spaces, they are more likely to take ownership of these spaces.” 

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].