The D&L Blog

Who could pass up a day of coal sack races, mine tours, polkas, and demonstrations of 19th-century funeral customs?  What if we throw in some great food and music? The first annual Coal Miner’s Heritage Festival will be…

Although the most ardent naturalists might find it unpalatable, electronic technology is playing an increasingly important role in outdoor recreation. One of the most recent manifestations of this development is geocaching, an activity resembling a…

On Tuesday, Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham released a new five-year capital plan that calls for $75.4 million in spending from 2009-2013. Of special note to friends of the D&L, the county has allotted $245,000…

We tend to think of nature and industry as polar opposites. One of the primary narratives of American history is the shift from fear of nature during colonization and expansion west, to its pragmatic and…

On Tuesday, Sherry Acevedo, Resource Conservation Specialist for the D&L, announced that the Lehigh Valley Greenways Initiative (LVGI) would award approximately one dozen state conservation mini-grants to local municipalities and organizations. The money comes from…

The installation of the “recycled” bridge was a great success. Aside from some minor grinding, workmen installed the 71-foot, 32-ton section of bridge with little difficulty. The event was documented by local newspapers, TV stations,…

In 1904, Mansfield Merriman, a civil engineering professor at Lehigh University and respected expert on hydraulics, delivered a report to Jay S. Moyer of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. In December 1903, Moyer had…

A major trail construction project is reaching a milestone this morning in Luzerne County. The D&L is bridging a gap in the trail caused by an active rail line, located in a deep cut with…

The famous Appalachian Trail intersects the D&L Trail at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, in northern Lehigh County. AT thru-hikers can use the D&L Trail to access stores and accommodations in Slatington and Walnutport to…

On Saturday, hundreds of trail users, including members of the press, braved the 95 degree conditions to attend the unveiling of our directional blades, listen to project updates, and help install mile markers, all as…

Many residents of Slatington and Walnutport already know how lucky they are to have the Walnutport Canal and the D&L Trail run through their communities. The Walnutport Canal Association maintains the towpath from the dilapidated…

The D&L is once again participating in the Alliance of National Heritage Areas‘ economic impact survey, which utilizes an economic model known as MGM2 (Money Generation Model Version Two). This process uses the data collected from visitor…