A 6,800-mile nationwide relay is coming through the Tri-State. Participants commemorating the nation's 250th anniversary have been carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence across the country along the American Discovery Trail.
The trail runs from from California to Delaware, splitting just south of Denver to create a northern and southern route that comes back together near Cincinnati.
The relay arrived in the Tri-State over the weekend with the northern group arriving in Richmond, Indiana, and the southern route in Madison, Indiana.
Participants on the southern route will head for Aurora Monday, and the Richmond group heads out for Oxford.
"We're really excited about it," says Chad Smith, director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Oxford. "We're an America 250 City here in Oxford, and the American Discovery Trail and this relay that's been going on across the country all year — we're really excited that they're coming through our city."
The two halves of the coast-to-coast relay will ceremoniously join together Tuesday in Elizabethtown, Ohio, a small community on the western edge of Whitewater Township, near the Ohio-Indiana state line.
"It's very exciting that Richmond is a part of the relay," says Park Superintendent for Richmond Parks and Recreation Denise Retz. "We love having the American Discovery Trail through Richmond and Wayne County, and it's just kind of a fun event to celebrate America's 250."
The relay started July 1 at the trail's western terminus, Point Reyes National Seashore, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on July 4. It's scheduled to reach the eastern terminus at Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware on Thanksgiving.
Runners, cyclists, hikers, and mobility device users have been handing off specially-created relay batons containing copies of the Declaration of Independence westward. Each leg of the relay is made up of local volunteers and participants.
"The trail will begin in Oxford at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and it will head down toward the Shaker Village," explains Jennifer Bornemann, a board member with White Water Shaker Village. "The participants will get a quick tour of the village. Then from there, the trail goes around the bicycle trail at Miami Whitewater Forest, which is called the Shaker Trace Trail, and then the trail continues on down to Elizabethtown, and that's where the North Trail and the South Trail will meet."
After the relay comes back together in Whitewater Township, it's scheduled to arrive at William Henry Harrison's tomb in North Bend at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. From there, the relay takes the Anderson Ferry across into Kentucky to Devou Park, before arriving in Cincinnati by way of the Roebling Suspension Bridge.
The relay resumes Sunday, Oct. 25, starting at Smale Riverfront Park and heading east to Milford. From there, it continues the following day to Williamsburg, arriving in Peebles on Thursday, Oct. 29.
There may still be time to participate locally.
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