Kim BrattainFounder/ CEO, Kim Brattain Media · Award-winning Corporate and Documentary Film Producer

Dr Ruth G Shaw, an Inspiration Icon in Charlotte NC | Kim Brattain Media

7 Dec 2013 · 2 min

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1:52

In this monologue, Dr. Ruth G. Shaw shares the inspiration behind the Thread Trail—a 15‑county interconnected network of urban and rural trails spanning the Piedmont region of North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. She uses an elephant metaphor to illustrate the trail’s multifaceted nature, describing urban segments, scenic rural stretches along the Catawba River, and the diverse ways communities experience it. Shaw recounts a personal encounter with a runner who uses the trail daily, underscoring its community resonance. She celebrates recent milestones: the trail’s fifth anniversary, the designation of its 100th mile, and the cumulative 1,500 miles of trail completed to date, while emphasizing that the project will continue for decades.

Chapters

It captured my imagination at the very first moment, and I wanted to be part of it. And I thought it was one of the most audacious thoughts I had ever heard, the idea of taking 15 counties in Piedmont North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina and building an interconnected system of trails. It's like the story The story of the elephant, depending on where you touch it, you think it's either a rope or a sheet of canvas or a fire hose. There are urban segments of the trail. There are also very rural segments of trail that go along your wonderful waterways, along the Catawba River. So it is many things to many people in many communities. I had a young man come up to me the other day and said, Ruth G. Shaw, you're Ruth G. Shaw. And I said, yes. He said, I run on your trail every day. The trail is a project that will last for decades. We just celebrated the 5th anniversary for the trail and simultaneously the 100th mile of designated Thread Trail. There are 1,500 miles of trail to date, so we have miles to go before we sleep.