MSTA Deeded Property

by Peter Fleszar, Mid State Trail Association

​On September 19, the Shambach family deeded their 5.2-hectacre Bedford County property to the Mid State Trail Association (MSTA). For 2 decades, the family had hosted the MST on the property—a portion of the former Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain/Everett Railroad grade they owned (see the Guide to Pennsylvania Mid State Trail, 12th edition, Section 3, NB km 5.04 to 6.28) in the heart of Aliquippa Gap, paralleling U.S. Route 30 and trail-north or compass-west of Everett.
 
We deeply appreciate the gift by family members Eleanor, Joni, and John Jr.—and, of course, the substantial effort by the peripatetic Everett Regional Manager, Deb Dunkle, and the support of the law office of Carl Walker Metzgar, Esq., who is also a state representative for portions of Bedford and Somerset Counties—to make this private donation possible.
 
This occasion marks the first time in the 48-year history of the MST that the association has owned, in fee simple, even a millimeter of the trail.
 
The photo shows the location of the Shambach family’s gift.