Trap Pond State Park now has a trail named The Bob
"Sussex County looks good.” Our friend Cat, web manager for the Cape Gazette, rolled into town recently from her home in Lincoln City, Ore., for business and visits. She used to live in Lewes, moved to Maine for many years, and then relocated to Oregon a couple of years back. “Like a rolling stone.”
During her moves, much has been happening here. Her overall assessment, after being away for many years, and other than the obvious increase in traffic, is that the county looks good.
I agree. Becky and I drove from east to west across Sussex Friday, Sept. 25, to attend an event at Trap Pond State Park honoring former state Sen. Bob Venables. We drove Route 9 to Georgetown, passing dried cornfields, light brown and busting with this year’s bumper crop. The improved intersections at Hopkins Dairy Farm Road, Hudson Road and Route 30 made the passage to Georgetown easier than it’s been in years. West of Georgetown, we dropped down on Route 113 to East Trap Pond Road and rolled southwesterly through rural Sussex with lots more corn and soybeans. Neat, well-maintained homes and farm buildings - old and new - lined the road, tucked between fields and woods.
At the Route 24 intersection, we headed west toward Laurel for a mile or two before turning left onto the road to the Trap Pond State Park entrance.
Bob Venables has long championed the wildlife and outdoors of Sussex County and as former chairman of the state’s Bond Bill Committee, helped shepherd funding for Gov. Jack Markell’s First State Pathways and Trails initiative through the Legislature. Bob has also worked steadily to improve the trail system at Trap Pond.
At the Sept. 25 event, more than 100 people gathered in the park’s impressive Nature Center to honor Bob and witness the renaming of the 4.6-mile Loblolly Trail as, simply, The Bob. A walker- and bicycle-friendly, smooth, crushed-stone surface winds its way through hardwoods, bald cypresses, and pine forests as it makes its way around the perimeter of Trap Pond. Studded with the northernmost natural stand of bald cypresses on the East Coast, the freshwater pond provides the centerpiece for the state’s first state park - designated in the 1930s.
Bethesda Church invites a visit
The Bob offers a quiet and peaceful ride, and is popular with birders who stop, listen, and then bend binoculars to their eyes for close-up views of songbirds and water birds who frequent the woods and streams of the park. About halfway around, the easy-riding trail opens onto a roadside clearing on the edge of the woods where the recently restored Bethesda Church invites a visit.
We rode the trail the morning of the dedication and found the church open. A small roof-restoration firm from North Carolina was on location doing repairs to the unique metal roof. A friendly woman told us all of the wood inside the church is bald cypress from the area, including a square-paneled ceiling.
She said the church pulpit is also made of bald cypress, but is missing. She alluded to a disagreement of sorts between the church’s current owners - the state - and its former pastor and something about the pulpit being held hostage until the matter is resolved.
An interpretive sign in front of the church provides an interesting history and describes the role that churches like this one played in the community life of rural areas such as that around Trap Pond.
A small cemetery closer to the edge of the woods where The Bob pushes back into the interior bears the surnames of families living in the area for at least two centuries. The residents of the cemetery remained mum about the pastor’s grievances.
The trail is a wonderful tribute, and I recommend a sweet day trip to Trap Pond any time of the year when weather permits to walk and ride. It’s about a 40-minute ride from Five Points.
It’s easy to see why Bob Venables feels such a kinship with Trap Pond and its trails, where he walks and pedals on a regular basis. Like him, the trees stand tall and stately, without conceit.
There’s a timeless and gracious quality to the natural beauty of the park and to Venables’ appreciation for the importance of having such beautiful, affordable places for all of the people, of all ages, to pursue healthy, simple happiness.
