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Ma and Pa Trail

rail trail in Maryland, US

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ6720904 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Ma and Pa Trail is a 6.25-mile (10.1 km) multi-purpose rail trail that follows the path of the old Ma and Pa Railroad through Harford County, Maryland. It contains three linked trails, one unconnected, with plans to bridge the gap in the middle, bringing the total length to 10 miles (16 km). Both links of the trail have a variety of trail surfaces (paved, larger gravel, finer gravel), have few steep hills or hazards, and contain overlooks and bridges when necessary.

The Bel Air Trail is a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) trail that runs from Williams Street in downtown to the Equestrian Center on the other side of the bypass. It passes underneath of the Maryland Route 24 (MD 24) highway, the U.S. Route 1 (US 1) bypass, and crosses Tollgate Road, where it meets the Fallston Trail. Spurs off of it connect to the Harford Mall and Liriodendron mansion, and branches out to a dog park at the end. It serves as a shortcut across town, rather than walking along highways, and contains several bridges across branches of the creek while cutting through the forested Heavenly Waters Park. Bathrooms and parking are available at each end of the trail. Horses and dogs are permitted on the Bel Air link of the path.

The Fallston Link is a 2-mile (3.2 km) segment dedicated on June 7, 2008, that runs from the Equestrian Center to the Edgeley Grove Farm area of Fallston.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ma and Pa Trail” as rail trail in Maryland, US. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2008—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Trail, rail and trail can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as rail trail in Maryland, US. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6720904. Authority coordinates are 39.534, -76.364. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008.

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Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ma and Pa Trail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.