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The Cynwyd Heritage Trail is a short paved rail trail in Lower Merion Township on Philadelphia's Main Line. It starts at SEPTA's Cynwyd Station, where trains still run, and follows the old rail bed northeast past Bala Cynwyd Park and between West Laurel Hill and Westminster cemeteries to the Rock Hill Road trailhead near the Schuylkill River. Asphalt and crushed gravel run side by side for most of the way, with quarter-mile markers and interpretive signs about the corridor's industrial past. The grade is rail-trail easy, a gentle descent toward the river. At the far end the Manayunk Bridge Trail carries riders over the Schuylkill to Manayunk and the Schuylkill River Trail.
Cynwyd Heritage Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Cynwyd Heritage Trail has about 120 to 164 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, running, e-biking, birding, 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 Cynwyd Heritage Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Cynwyd Heritage Trail peaks October 31 to November 8, typically around November 4. The trail has 36% deciduous coverage, with the majority being yellow-poplar, red maple, sweetgum, white oak, and white ash.
The Pennsylvania Railroad pushed its Schuylkill Branch through Bala Cynwyd to challenge the Reading Railroad for the traffic of the Schuylkill Valley. Barmouth Station on East Levering Mill Road was a stop on that branch, set between West Laurel Hill and Westminster cemeteries, and trains there carried both passengers and coffins. In 1918 the railroad finished the Manayunk Bridge, a concrete open spandrel arch built in an S curve to carry the line across the Schuylkill River. The line was electrified in 1930. Commuter service passed to SEPTA, which ran it as the Ivy Ridge Line. In May 1986 SEPTA closed every station north of Cynwyd when the integrity of the Pencoyd Viaduct was questioned, and the Manayunk Bridge closed on October 25 of that year. Cynwyd Station stayed in service as the end of the line. In 2008 the Friends of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail organized to support a trail on the idle corridor. In 2009 SEPTA leased the line to Lower Merion Township, which pulled up the tracks. Construction began in March 2011, ground was formally broken on May 5, and the trail opened that summer at a cost of about 1.5 million dollars. The rebuilt Manayunk Bridge opened as a trail on October 30, 2015, tying the Cynwyd to the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia. The Friends still recruit volunteer maintainers and raise money to improve the park.
Manayunk Bridge TrailSchuylkill River Trail: Philadelphia
