Tenleytown Set to Get Heritage Trail

Map It:  Tenleytown 

LOCAL HISTORIANS REJOICE: The Tenleytown Heritage Trail is set to become a reality.

The Washington D.C. Neighborhood Heritage Trails Advisory Committee on Tuesday OK'd a plan to create the trail. Jane Waldmann, a member of the heritage trail working group and board member at the Tenleytown Historical Society, said it should be completed in about a year.

Cultural Tourism DC, a nonprofit coalition that specializes in urban projects, will do additional research and will handle the writing portion for the tour's numbered signs. The group has coordinated heritage trails for a variety of D.C. neighborhoods, including U Street, Barracks Row and Mount Pleasant.

Waldmann said that working with Cultural Tourism DC and the District Department of Transportation to coordinate proper sign placement was a breeze. She said the group's already conducted a smooth test walk.

"I think that that Cultural Tourism has done enough of these trails that they know what the process is, and I don't anticipate there will be any real problems," she said.

For Waldmann, the six-month lead-up to approval was a communal labor of love.

"People on the working group committee are all interested in local history and many people have lived in the area for their [entire] lifetimes," she said. "Their families have been here for generations, so they had a lot to contribute. It was fun, because we all learned a lot."