Paul Harvey was leading a group of office workers on a lunch-break walk through the Oakwood Cemetery when someone asked if there was a route with fewer hills. The visitor and their friends said they didn’t like sweating before returning to work. Right then, Harvey had an idea.

With the assistance of a SUNY-ESF student, he mapped out an alternate route through Oakwood. This route, known by Harvey as the Flat Trail, is just that: flat.

Perfectly suited for those looking for a casual stroll or drive, Harvey said the Flat Trail snakes through the cemetery, passing several notable sites along the way. The trail, which opened up in late September, includes checkpoints at the gravesites of Huntington Beard Crouse, Francis Hendricks of Hendricks Chapel and renowned Syracuse University football coach Dick MacPherson.

The Flat Trail doesn’t stand alone — it’s an addition to an established trail system called the Morningside Cultural Trails.

Harvey, the founder of Morningside, is an expert on the area. He said the first trail, the Nature Trail, was first built in the 1970s by SUNY-ESF students and the Ed Smith Elementary School PTO. It was rebuilt by another group of students in the early 1990s, but was ultimately wiped out by the 1998 Labor Day Storm.

Today, after another rebuild of the Nature Trail and the construction of additional ones, Harvey estimates the entire system is about 20 miles long. But the length and difficulty are of little concern for Harvey. Instead, he concentrates on the culture behind each trail.

“Everything you could imagine is in these trails,” he said. “Arts, literature, nature, science, recreation, fitness, creativity of all kinds, diversity.”

As a point of emphasis for Harvey, he has made sure each route is thematic and contains some sort of cultural significance.

The Public Arts Pathway traverses three parts of Syracuse, showcasing important artistic areas. The Tree Trail passes through Oakwood and is marked by signs on 13 different species of trees. The Ghost Trail, which also winds through the cemetery, includes stops at a handful of graves with reported paranormal activity. And that’s just to name a few. With more than 10 trails available to the public, the Morningside system is a centerpiece for Syracuse culture of the past and present.

Harvey is largely responsible for that, but wants locals to know this has been a group effort. An office worker spurred the idea of the Flat Trail, a SUNY-ESF student pitched the idea for the Invasive Trail and a community desire to retain the tradition of the Nature Trail lead to its reconstruction.

“The trails are all somebody’s idea,” Harvey said. “These are not all Paul Harvey’s ideas.”

The group effort spreads further than just trail ideas, too.

Both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts participate in regular cemetery cleanups, Harvey said. In early 2015, Syracuse Community Geography, an organization based in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at SU, used GPS to map the trails and installed kiosks throughout the trails, according to the group’s website.

This partnership between SUNY-ESF and Morningside continues today. Whenever Sarah Houck, SUNY-ESF’s director of student involvement and leadership, hears of students looking to volunteer, she said she directs them to Morningside.

Harvey values the community support and reciprocates the positive feelings.

“ESF has been nothing but supportive,” he said. “They’re one of our best partners.”

But no partner has been more supportive than the Westcott Community Center. Not only does the center advertise Morningside on its website, but they serve as the trail system’s financial sponsor as well.

Executive Director Joan Royle said Harvey is a great community partner and praises Morningside.

“It’s such a great collection of different trails throughout this area … we’re the community center, we can’t help but want to support it,” Royle said.

Community partnerships have helped boost attendance, but Harvey said he’s not worried so much about that.

“The people that know the trails love them,” Harvey said. “And any time I bring somebody to the trails they fall in love with them.”

Published on October 14, 2018 at 9:35 pm