The Chessie Nature Trail is a seven-mile, year-round public access walking trail between Lexington and Buena Vista, located along the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad right of way.
Walking the Trail
The trail has a relatively flat grade with a gravel and dirt surface. There are currently no facilities on the trail, so plan a visit accordingly. Ticks are fairly common in this area during warmer months; be sure to wear appropriate clothing and check thoroughly for ticks after returning from the trail.
Be sure to visit our trail listing at AllTrails.com, where you can download their smartphone app to rate the trail, log your trip with GPS, and upload photos for other visitors to see! Users may also want to bring along a copy of the Field Guide to the Chessie Nature Trail (published in 2009 by the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council) to learn more about the history and environment in the area of the trail.
Rules and Guidelines
Pedestrians and bicycles are welcome on the trail. The trail goes through private lands, including active cattle farms. Exercise caution and respect. Dogs must be leashed at all times. Pack out all litter.
Map
Trail Map – courtesy of the Friends of Chessie Trail
Access Points
The Chessie Nature Trail is open to the public. The trail may be accessed from several places, including
- At the North end of the East Lexington Bridge (U.S. Route 11) over the Maury River
- Near Mill Creek on Old Buena Vista Road (Virginia Route 631), about 0.6 miles east of Route 11
- At Stuartsburg Road (Route 608), where the South River flows into the Maury
- At the Eastern terminus, Stuartsburg Road (Route 608) at U.S. Route 60
Scheduling Trail Use
VMI occasionally uses the trail for cadet marches. The trail remains open to the public during these times.
Local community groups are encouraged to hold walks or meetings on the trail. All planned community events must be coordinated in advance with VMI to prevent trail use conflicts. Any group wishing to hold a trail clean up or other volunteer trail maintenance may contact VMI for support.
Trail Feedback
Have feedback on the trail? Submit comments/ questions via our comment form. This form, which will open in a new window, is anonymous. You may include your contact information if you wish to receive a response. If you are accessing this page from a QR code on the trail and reporting damages, please allow the QR code to record your GPS location for our reference.
Advisory Committee
The Chessie Nature Trail Advisory Committee was established in June 2013 to advise the superintendent of VMI with respect to trail design, construction, use, maintenance, and promotion. The committee establishes a balanced approach between and among various trail users’ and private land owners’ interests, and provides a forum for continued community input in the safe and sustainable use of the trail’s natural and cultural resources. The committee meets quarterly, with the last annual meeting of the year open to the public.
Special thanks to all of the individuals and organizations who contributed time and extensive knowledge to this page, including:
- Philip de Vos, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society
- Peggy Dyson-Cobb
- Dr. David Harbor, Washington and Lee University geology department
- Don Hasfurther, Historic Lexington Foundation
- Dr. John Knox, Washington and Lee biology department
- Col. Kenneth Koons, Virginia Military Institute history department
- Dr. Paul Low, Washington and Lee geology department
- Katie Letcher Lyle
- Laura Neale, Rockbridge Bird Club
- Dr. Michael Pelton, University of Tennessee Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries
- Wendy Richards, Rockbridge Bird Club
- Col. Richard Rowe, Virginia Military Institute biology department
- Rockbridge Historical Society
- Alexia Smith, Rockbridge Bird Club
- Dr. Edgar Spencer, Washington and Lee geology department
- Lisa Tracy, Chair, Chessie Trail Committee, Rockbridge Area Conservation Council
- Dr. William Trout III, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society
- Virginia Canals and Navigations Society
- Washington and Lee archaeology department
- Tom Kastner
- Steve Harrington
- Brady Papers. Canal along Chessie Trail. Box 12 Folder 5. Washington and Lee University Special Collections and Archives, Lexington, Virginia.
- Camuto, Christopher. Hunting from Home. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2004. Print.
- Flory, S. Luke. “Management of Microstegium vimineum invasions and recovery of resident plant communities.” Restoration Ecology 18.1 (2010): 103-112. Print.
- Gilbert, Benjamin and Jonathan M. Levine. “Plant invasions and extinction debts.” PNAS 110.5 (2013): 1744-1749. Print.
- Gilliam, Catherine M. “Jordan’s Point – Lexington, Virginia: A Site History.” Proceedings of the Rockbridge Historical Society. Eds. Sharon R. Ritenour, Larry I. Bland, and Joellen K. Bland. Vol. 9. Lexington, VA: Rockbridge Historical Society, 1982. Print.
- Gurevitch, Jessica and Dianna K. Padilla. “Are invasive species a major cause of extinctions?” TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution 19.9 2004): 470-474. Print.
- Harrington, Steve. Steve Harrington Photograph Collection. Washington and Lee University Special Collections and Archives, Lexington, Virginia.
- Jones, Henry Boswell. The Diary of Henry Boswell Jones of Brownsburg (1842-1871). Ed. Charles Wilson Turner. Verona, VA: McClure Press, 1979. Print.
- Knapp, John W. “Trade and Transportation in Rockbridge: The First Hundred Years.” Proceedings of the Rockbridge Historical Society. Eds. Sharon R. Ritenour, Larry I. Bland, and Joellen K. Bland. Vol 9. Lexington, VA: Rockbridge Historical Society, 1982. Print.
- Koons, Kenneth E. “‘The Staple of Our Country’: Wheat in the Regional Farm Economy of the Nineteenth-Century Valley of Virginia.” Proceedings of the Rockbridge Historical Society. Ed. Larry I. Bland. Vol. 12. Lexington, VA: Rockbridge Historical Society, 2003. Print.
- Mack, Richard N., Daniel Simberlof, W. Mark Lonsdale, Harry Evans, Michael Clout, and Fakhri Buzzaz. “Biotic invasions: Causes, epidemiology, global consequences, and control.” Issues in Ecology 5 (2000): 1-20. Print.
- North River – Articles and Clippings. Pat Brady and Royster Lyle Papers, Box 3. RHS MSS Collection.
- Washington and Lee University Special Collections and Archives, Lexington, Virginia.
- Reid’s Dam. Copy made March 11, 1982. Canals – Photographs – Places (4). RHS (Misc.) Collection. Washington and Lee University Special Collections and Archives, Lexington, Virginia
- Rockbridge Area Conservation Council. Field Guide to the Chessie Nature Trail. Eds. Lisa Tracy and Jeanne Eichelberger. Buena Vista, VA: Mariner Publishing, 2009. Print.
- Rodgers, Vikki L., Kristina A. Stinson, and Adrien C. Finzi. ”Ready or not, garlic mustard is moving in: Alliara petiolata as a member of eastern North American forests.” BioScience 58.5 (2008): 426-436. Print.
- Simberloff, Daniel, Jean-Louis Martin, Piero Genovesi, Virginie Maris, David A. Wardle, James Aronson, Franck Courchamp, Bella Galil, Emili Garcia-Berthou, Michel Pascal, Petr Pysek, Ronaldo Sousa, Eric Tabacchi, and Montserrat Vila. “Impacts of biological invasions: what’s what and the way forward.”Trends in Ecology and Evolution 28.1 (2013): 58-66. Print.
- Tallamy, Douglas W. Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Updated and Expanded. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2009. Print.
- Trout, William E., III. “An Automobile Tour of the North River Navigation.” Proceedings of the Rockbridge Historical Society. Eds. Larry I. Bland and Joellen K. Bland. Vol. 8. Lexington, VA: Rockbridge Historical Society, 1980. Print.
- Trout, William E., III. “The Maury River Atlas: Historic Sites on the North River Navigation.” 1991. Virginia Canals and Navigations Society. Brady Papers, Box 12 Folder 11. RHS MSS Collection. Washington and Lee University Special Collections and Archives, Lexington, Virginia.
- Trout, William E., III. “The North River Navigation: Lexington’s Link with the Sea.” 1966. Pat Brady and Royster Lyle Papers, Box 3. RHS MSS Collection. Washington and Lee University Special Collections and Archives, Lexington, Virginia.
- Virginia Military Institute Archives. Records of the Superintendent. Administrative Subject Files. Chessie Trail.