BATH – Bath’s Lawson’s Walk project is scheduled to get under way this month. Town officials and major project contributors attended a ground-breaking ceremony Monday.

Karen Sayer, a project committee member, provided background on the project.

“DOT signs, bollards and installation of the trail bed are slated for Phase I and will be completed prior to the end of April,” she said. “A grant award received from Adopt a Trail will be utilized for this portion of the project as well as other funds received from local businesses and residents. The Town Council has submitted a PARTF grant application to N.C. Parks and Recreation for additional funding. The award will be announced in June. Phase II of the project has not been awarded.”

Lawson’s Walk will honor English explorer John Lawson. The project calls for building a pedestrian walkway with informative markers describing Lawson’s life and work.

Last year, Leigh Swain, site manager for the Historic Bath State Historic Site, spoke about some of the specifics of the project.

“What is in consideration is including information about plants that Lawson mentioned in his book, ‘A New Voyage to Carolina,’” she said. “They are also looking for low-maintenance things, native plants, but as low maintenance as possible.”

Lawson played a major role in the founding of North Carolina’s earliest permanent European settlements, Bath and New Bern, in the New World. Lawson became one of Bath’s first commissioners. Later, he became clerk and public registrar for Bath County.

In November, a $10,000 grant for the project was awarded to the town. The project calls for building a pedestrian walkway with informative markers describing Lawson’s life and work.

Sayer said there are no plans, for now, to put plaques naming contributors along the walk.

The walk will run along Bowen Avenue for 1,000 feet.

Major project contributors to the project include Wal-Mart, the Beaufort County Committee of 100, Historic Bath Foundation, Grady-White Boats, Dr. and Mrs. Ed Clement and Mr. and Mrs. Gene Roberts.