Cape Cod Magazine - Cape Cod Rail Trail Article

eral Cape towns on land largely owned by a bankrupt railroad.
His idea was far from a municipal planning slam-dunk. Notably,
there were no bicyclists clamoring for it. But Reed, Ruckert and
Evan Wylie of Brewster joined forces to tackle what Reed called
“an obsessive project.” The Cape Cod Rail Trail would consume
the next eight years of Reed’s life.
The trio recognized the trail’s potential health benefits and
became bike-path evangelists. However, many of their Cape
neighbors didn’t share their enthusiasm. The planners faced a
public relations problem. “There was a lot of concern and apprehension
about how the public was going to behave themselves,”
said Gilbert Bliss, then director of the Massachusetts
Division of Forests and Parks.
Reed goes further: “We had 16 miles of ‘Not in my backyards!’”
James “Jim” Ehrhart, then Brewster’s police chief, confirms
Reed’s observation. “There was vocal opposition from people
who felt it was going to be a major disruption to their privacy.”
Ehrhart owned property abutting the trail and welcomed it, but
he says others were fearful. The trail planners held many meetings
to allay concerns and promote their asphalt vision.
While the planners contended with a chorus of opposition, they
had decisions to make. Paving would require accoutrements like
graded shoulders, safety railings and fences, intersection safety
strategies, vegetation care, pavement markings, and signs.
The proposed trail would be constructed down the center of the
80-foot-wide former rail right-of-way and would initially cross
five towns. The Cape Cod Planning and Economic Development
Commission (the predecessor of today’s Cape Cod Commission)
Dennis Third-Grader Wins Rail Trail Naming Contest
Eric Dubin, a 44-year-old engineer raised in Dennis, tells people
in corporate “icebreaker” games that when he was a child he
named the Cape Cod Rail Trail. They usually don’t believe him,
but it’s true.
Initially, the trail was referred to as the “Outer Cape bicycle
path” or “the Dennis-to-Eastham bikeway” but as groundbreaking
approached, the project needed a proper name. The planners
turned to Cape Cod schoolchildren. Students in the bike
trail towns were invited to participate in a naming contest.
And the winner was Dubin, then a third-grader at Ezra
Baker School in Dennis. His entry, “Cape Cod Rail Trail,” topped
156 others. On May 8, 1979, state officials awarded Dubin
a 10-speed bike at a Nickerson State Park ceremony. Scott
Pearson, an eighth-grader at Dennis’ Wixon Middle School,
also received a bike for winning the trail’s logo contest. His
design was used on the rail trail’s original signage. Pearson,
like Dubin, became an engineer and now is an energy industry
executive. He and Dubin have remained in touch over the
years, thanks to their link as contest champs.
Cycling remains important to Dubin, now a married father
of two boys. In 2013, he biked the Cape Cod Rail Trail with his
sons for the first time. For four years, Dubin has participated
in a 150-mile multiple sclerosis cycling fundraiser. Part of the
Boston-to-Provincetown route includes the trail he named 35
years ago. “That’s meaningful to me,” Dubin says. “I feel like I
have a strong connection to it.” — Mary Chaffee
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH DUBIN
Third-grader Eric Dubin (left), came up with the Cape Cod Rail Trail name in 1979,
and eighth-grader Scott Pearson won the trail’s logo contest, whose design was
used on the rail trail’s original signage. Both boys, who remain in touch to this day,
received a bike for their winning efforts.
www.capecodmagazine.com OCTOBER 2014 CAPE COD MAGAZINE 65