The Home of the Friends of the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail

This web page was begun as a clearing house and discussion forum for Friends of the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail, volunteers and users.

The DRHT is the dream of Joe Williams and David Brickley. Mr. Williams is a former King George Planning Commisioner and Mr. Brickly was a delegate from 1976-98 and served as director of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation from 1998-2002. Mr. Brickley acquired the rights to the 16-mile trail in December, 2005 from Mr. Williams. The first section from Rt. 610 East to Rt. 218 opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 3, 2006.

Briefly, the DRHT is a 16 mile rails-to-trails project. The US Navy installed the railroad bed in 1942 to ship munitions and war materials to the Navy Base in Dahlgren, VA. The railroad was only used for a short time by the Navy, was turned over to the RF&P and used for a while as a passenger rail line to Fredericksburg. The RF&P was purchased by CSX and the line East of 605 was abandoned, the rails removed for salvage, and eventually the land was sold to Mr. Williams. The trail begins along Rt. 605 in King George County and runs East toward B Gate at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division through some of the wildest and most beautiful land in the Northern Neck of Virginia. The area abounds with wildlife: deer, fox, eagles hawks and beaver are all common sights to the watchful user of the trail.

The trail is being established to preserve some green space for our children and to attempt to prevent King George from becoming just another bedroom community...just another Northern Virginia X-burb. Further, the DRHT will be the main conduit for the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail throught King George and down the Northern Neck. The Friends of the DRHT are proud to be members of the RF&P Chapter of BikeWalk Virginai Trails.