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The Chester Creek Trail is a paved rail trail in central Delaware County, Pennsylvania, running about 2.8 miles along Chester Creek through Middletown and Aston townships. It follows the old Chester Creek Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad between Lenni Road near Glen Riddle and Knowlton Road, passing Mount Alverno on the way. The route is rail-grade flat on a 10-foot asphalt surface, and it stays close to the creek for most of its length under a mostly wooded canopy. Parking is at Knowlton Road and Mount Alverno Road. It is the finished middle piece of a planned longer trail from the SEPTA Wawa station to Upland.
Chester Creek Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Chester Creek Trail has about 119 to 164 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, birding, running, biking, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Chester Creek Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Chester Creek Trail peaks October 30 to November 7, typically around November 3. The trail has 45% deciduous coverage, with the majority being yellow-poplar, red maple, white oak, chestnut oak, and black oak.
Hurricane Agnes ended the Chester Creek Branch in 1972, a century after the first trains ran. Long before the rails, the creek turned mill wheels. Thomas Wilcox built a paper mill on Chester Creek in 1729, one of the earliest in the colonies, and the rocky gorge below Lenni and Glen Riddle later held a string of mills that tapped its water power. The Chester Creek Railroad was chartered in 1866 and began service in 1869. It linked the mill villages of the valley with Lamokin Street in Chester on the main line, hauling goods from the mills and quarries along the creek. The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad leased it first. In 1916 the Pennsylvania Railroad took control through a subsidiary, and Penn Central inherited it in the 1968 merger. A flash flood in September 1971 damaged the line. Agnes hit the following year, and the railroad never repaired it. The Friends of the Chester Creek Branch formed in 1994 under the Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association and incorporated in 1997. SEPTA leased the corridor to the Friends and Delaware County in 2005. Grants arrived in 2010, construction began in 2015, and the 2.8-mile middle section through Middletown and Aston opened in late 2016, with a ribbon cutting on April 8, 2017. Delaware County took formal responsibility for the trail in 2017. Work continues on Phase 2 south to Bridgewater Road in Aston and on a link north to the SEPTA Wawa station.
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