#pigpath

There was a time in this town when trolleys connected neighborhoods and allowed for municipal expansion because the city’s first form of public transportation took people away from the dangers of Wheeling’s bustling downtown and to unsoiled water sources and natural air.

Those streetcars allowed for the birth of Wheeling’s suburbs, too, with Center and South Wheeling lines developed first and rails that carried passengers from downtown all the way to Elm Grove added during the tram’s six decades of operation. Only a few remnants of the industry remain today, however, and more tracks have been uncovered and removed during the current streetscape project along Main and Market streets.

The trail has been known by many names through the years, but the most popular nickname seems to be "The Pig Path."

The best piece of proof that remains today has been renamed by local historians as “Traction Path,” but the slender, grass-and-gravel lane always will be better known as “The Path,” “The Pig Path,” and as “Lover’s Lane.” The trail stretches from Heiskell Avenue to Elm Street and it rests between two developments known as Kenwood Place and Echo Point Circle.

According to information archived by the Ohio County Public Library, the wooded pathway was a small portion of the Elm Grove-to-Woodsdale line. These days, though, the throughway is labeled “Traction Path” and it’s been civilized by Eagle scouts and the City of Wheeling with drainage control, a picnic table, lighting, and a new entrance/exit on the east side of the trail.

There was a time, though, when young adults hid away for their evening path parties and local kids utilized it as a quick portal to sneak between the two halves of the Woodsdale neighborhood. 

The path between Kenwood Place and Echo Point Circle is less than a mile long.

The trail, once filled with trolley tracks, is now fenced off from the neighborhood to the north and south.

Someone has cut the fencing for an opening into Kenwood Place. During the 1970s and 1980s, the shortcut was used by school kids to get to their homes in the area.

While most of the path has been cut back by Boy Scouts and city employees, this tall tree has been left to grow tall along the south side.

There is private property located directly adjacent to the former trolley trail.

The "Pig Path" does supply walkers and bikers some shade on sunny days in the Woodsdale neighborhood of Wheeling.

Thanks to scouts from Boy Scout Troop #82 in Glen Dale and Troop 5 in Wheeling, this picnic area was developed near the path's Elm Street portal.

Signage was erected by the city to recognize the scouts and to rename the trail.

It remains a short cut to Miklas Meat Market and the Rose Bowl from the west side of Edgwood Street, and the thruway serves the same for those to the east looking to get to Sheetz, Tom Horton’s, or Hardees on foot or on bike. The path once was shrouded with trees that formed natural fencing for Echo Point Circle and Kenwood Place, two housing developments rife with mansions and fancy cars, but now chain-link fencing locks travelers into the graveled lane until reaching Heiskell Avenue on one side or Elm Street on the other.  

There is some graffiti on a wall beyond the fencing that separates the path from private property. “Everyone knew about the path when I was a teenager, that’s for sure,” said Don Atkinson, a former Wheeling council member and a 40-year veteran for Ace Garage. “There were a lot of my friends who hang out there, especially during the warm, summer nights because it was kind of a hiding place, and because the police pretty much left everyone alone. “There was beer and some other stuff, you know, but that was a different time and that’s probably why the police were OK with it, as far as I know,” he said. “They even had fires along that stream, and no one seemed to care. That wouldn’t be the case nowadays, no way.”

The exit to the east end of the trail was altered by the Boy Scouts to increase safety near Elm Street.

Pigs to Market?

Those who roamed the Woodsdale neighborhood on foot or bike during the 1970s know this trek as, “The Path,” and those older referred to it as, “Lover’s Lane” likely because it’s tucked away, hidden by natural growth, and once was a pathway to, perhaps, that first kiss. At some point during the 1980s, Atkinson reported, the trail became the, “Pig Path.” “As I remember it, it kind of happened almost over night when we would get calls at the garage,” he said. “People would use the path as a landmark when explaining where we needed to go for whatever reason, but then they started saying the pig path, and I know I was confused at first. Why it changed, I have no idea. “My son knows it as the pig path, too, so it had to start with the folks who are much younger than I am,” he continued. “I’ve heard it changed names because, before Woodsdale became what it is now, it was all a farm and that path is how they took pigs to the market to sell. Whether or not that’s true, you got me.” The Wood family owned much of what is now known as Woodsdale, now a city historical district thanks to Wheeling Heritage, and the only portion of that farm rests across Bethany Pike (W.Va. Rt. 88) from Woodsdale Elementary School. The field, once open for public use but now closed, is bordered by Long Run. “There’s one of those white (historical) markers near that field, and it says that a family member of George Washington is buried there somewhere,” Atkinson said. “I mean, that’s pretty cool even if we have no one idea where, right?”

There are signs of overgrowth along the trail, an issue that's plagued passage in year's past.

Gravel, Mud, and Skeletons.

Considering the last week of weather, the path was in decent condition this past weekend with run-off from Echo Point Circle causing sloppy conditions along a few stretches. In the 1970s and 1980s, the city of Wheeling would apply a thin cinder covering to the path, but these days it appears is more of a gravel similar to what is utilized on construction sites. “I know when I was on council, we did approve funding for the gravel, but we weren’t the ones who made the change from cinder, and I’m not sure when that took place,” Atkinson said. “The path wasn’t something I would have paid attention to after getting married and starting a family. “There have been a few people calling the garage from around that area in the last couple of years, but not as many as before,” he recalled. “Any hey, there’s a picnic table there now.”

Three Boy Scouts organized the effort to create this picnic area near the east end of the "Pig Path."

Eagle Scouts.