The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route was featured in articles today in the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer and the Louisville Courier-Journal. The trail travels through Owensboro on its way North, stretching from Moble Bay, AL to Ontario, Canada. The route is broken into 5 sections.

• Section 1: Mobile Bay, AL to Fulton, MS
• Section 2: Fulton, MS to Owensboro, KY
• Section 3: Owensboro, KY to Milford, OH
• Section 4: Milford, OH to Erie, PA
• Section 5: Erie, PA to Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada

Maps connect cyclists with Underground Railroad history

03/04/07

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE -- History can be healthy.

That's the message two groups hope to get across to veteran and beginner bicyclists with a set of maps intended to get riders closer to a painful chapter of American history.

The last three sections of the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route were recently released, completing a path from Owensboro through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and eventually ending in Canada.

The first sections trace the route from Mobile, Ala., across to Mississippi, through Tennessee, into the Land Between the Lakes in western Kentucky and north to Owensboro.

The Adventure Cycling Association and the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh began a partnership on the route with the aim of encouraging blacks to seek out their cultural history and improve their health.

It's also seen as a way to erase cultural tensions and diversify the demographics of the bicycling set.

"As people experience this route, they are going through small towns and neighborhoods, meeting people whose stories will intrigue them and they'll be able to share their experiences," said Ginny Sullivan, new routes coordinator for ACA.

For more information on the route, you can go to the Adventure Cycling Association Web site, www.adv-cycling.org