Silver Spring Heritage Trail

I was thrilled to attend the Silver Spring Heritage Trail signs unveiling ceremony this past Saturday, April 17th in Downtown Silver Spring. I joined County Executive Issiah Leggett, Councilmembers Valerie Ervin and Marc Elrich and elected Maryland State officials for this special ceremony.

The Silver Spring Heritage Trail is the first official Montgomery County Main Street Heritage Trail—A joint endeavor between the County Executive's Office, the County Council, the Silver Spring Regional Services Center, the Silver Spring Historical Society, and the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission Staff.

The Silver Spring Heritage Trail is the County's legal mitigation requirement from the 1998 loss through demolition of the historic 1927 Silver Spring National Guard Armory on Wayne Avenue for redevelopment of the core of Silver Spring's Central Business District.

The Trail showcases one of Silver Spring's original Main Streets, Georgia Avenue, the birth of Silver Spring's Central Business District, the first Newspaper, "The Maryland News", the first Department Store, the first Bank, and the first Bakery, among other interesting and historical places in Silver Spring. These Pioneering Structures are Enlivened "now and then" by multi-cultural small independent businesses and a variety of institutions.

Visit the Heritage Trail to experience adaptive reuse at its best! Heritage Tourism is economic development, also known as "Sense of Place Economics!”