WINFIELD -- The AEP John Amos Plant is teaming up with the Mary Ingles Trail Blazers for a project that will allow outdoors enthusiasts to follow an approximation of the path that the history-making frontierswoman followed during her escape from American Indians some 255 years ago.

Amos Plant has agreed to make land available for construction of a segment of the Mary Ingles Trail, which will honor the frontier wife who was captured by Shawnee warriors in 1755, then escaped and walked nearly 500 miles back to her home in Virginia.

The trail will be located on the opposite side of W.Va. 817 (formerly U.S. 35) from the plant itself, according to Frank Fetty, who oversees the FGD landfill operation at Amos Plant and is coordinating the plant's role in the trail project.

"We will be constructing the two trailheads for this portion of the Mary Ingles Trail, while volunteers from the Mary Ingles Trail Blazers organization will be building the trail itself," Fetty said in a press release.

"The southern trailhead will be located at Bill's Creek, near the plant, while the northern trailhead will be located across the state highway from the Wetlands of Winfield," Fetty said. "The trail will be situated between our FGD landfill and the state highway."

"AEP's willingness to make this land available and to construct the trailheads is a real boon to our efforts to create the trail," Doug Wood, an environmental resources specialist with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, said in the press release. Wood is also president of the Mary Ingles Trail Blazers and secretary of the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association. "It's another example of AEP being a socially responsible, community-minded company," he said.

Wood said the portion of the trail that extends through the Amos Plant property will measure somewhere between three-and-a-half and four miles, depending upon the exact route that is selected. "The terrain is hilly, and the area is densely wooded, so we believe it will be an enjoyable trail for walkers and hikers," he said.

"We're hoping that, before 2010 is over, we'll have the northern trailhead completed, along with about a mile and a half of the trail. We've already done some blazing, and I think we're well on our way. In about two years, we would like to have both trailheads and this entire portion of the trail completed."

The finished trail will be marked with signs explaining how Ingles was captured by American Indians, but escaped and followed the Ohio, Kanawha and New rivers back to her home at what is now Blacksburg, Va. Historians say Ingles walked the nearly 500-mile distance in 42 days.

"The path that the Mary Ingles Trail is taking through the Amos Plant property is almost certainly not the actual path she followed as she made her way along the Kanawha River," Wood said. "The trail we're building is along the slope of the valley, while Mary probably walked along the valley itself, closer to the river. But it's impossible to build the trail along her likely path, because the Kanawha Valley is all developed now with chemical plants, factories and homes. So we're making it as close to her probable route as we possibly can."

The Amos Plant segment is the third portion of the Mary Ingles Trail that has been built in West Virginia. The first segment is located in the New River Gorge, while the second is in the Kanawha State Forest.

"We're delighted to have AEP's help in this project, because we believe Mary Ingles' story is one that deserves to be told for generations to come," Wood said.

For further information about the Mary Ingles Trail, contact Wood at chingwe1755@yahoo.com or 304-755-0440.

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