Residents of the Route 1 corridor are celebrating the opening of the southern extension of the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail.

Local advocates had long pushed for the crucial segment of the trail because it connects to paths along the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River, which heads towards Montgomery County, and the Northeast Branch, which leads to D.C.

Drivers should take care when going through the intersection of Route 1 and Armentrout Drive, as the rules have changed to accommodate the new bike path. Cars are no longer allowed to make a free right turn from Armentrout onto Rhode Island Avenue.

Here’s an overview of some of the events happening this month celebrating the trail extension’s opening:

• Visit local businesses. A small group of local businesses (see the full map here) such as Maryland Meadworks and Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. are running a promotion sponsored by Maryland Milestones. Through Jan. 6, stop by these local businesses to pick up a punchcard that will get you discounts and a chance to win prizes.

• Bike the trail on Dec. 9. You can join a group of local cyclists on two celebratory rides along the trolley trail from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9. The rides, co-sponsored by Arrow Bicycle and Proteus Bicycles, will gather at Shortcake Bakery and Proteus at 12:30 p.m., and meet in the middle at Denizen’s Brewing Co., at the Station at Riverdale Park.

• Run the trail on Dec. 10. The Runners SoHy group has organized a self-paced three-mile run that includes the new trolley trail extension starting at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10, at Vigilante Coffee in Hyattsville.

• Go on a Dec. 15 pub crawl. Local businesses are also sponsoring a “pub crawl” on Friday, Dec. 15, starting at 6 p.m. at Pizzeria Paradiso, then 7:15 at Maryland Meadworks, 8:30 p.m. at Streetcar 82 and 9:15 at Sangfroid Distilling. Discounts will be offered if you have the punchcard.

• Join the Dec. 17 Sunday Funday event. Another group of local businesses will be holding a “Sunday Funday” on Sunday, Dec. 17, starting with 11:30 a.m. brunch at Shortcake Bakery, heading to Arrow Bicycle, Shops at SoHy, Three Little Birds and Sweet Pea Fiber and ending at 2:30 p.m. at Franklins. Discounts with punchcard.

The Hyattsville Community Development Corp. is also planning its own celebration of the trail extension for Saturday, Jan. 20.

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When European settlers first arrived in the area that is now Bladensburg in colonial times, the Anacostia River was deep enough that ocean-bound ships could dock there.

Over time, those ships changed the nature of the river, however.

Bladensburg’s status as a port city helped make tobacco a lucrative crop in the surrounding area, but poor farming practices led to more and more silt washing downstream, eventually making navigation almost impossible.

In his memoirs, U.S. Attorney General William Wirt, who grew up in Bladensburg, recalled watching a neighbor go fishing during a freshet, or flood, as a young man in the 1780s.

“One of the most surprising and interesting spectacles to me, in those days, was this old man wading up to his waist, during a freshet, and harpooning the sturgeon. It was a whale fishery in miniature,” he wrote.

In 1835, the last large ship left Bladensburg and the river was permanently closed to commercial shipping, and the flooding got even worse, with notable floods in 1933, 1942, and 1954 that covered roads in as much as eight feet of water.

In the mid 1950s, state and federal officials began working on the $11.4 million Anacostia River Flood Control and Navigation Project and navigation project, building levees on both sides of the river and dredging it to a depth of six feet. The project’s completion was celebrated with the opening of the “Prince George’s Marina,” now known as Bladensburg Waterfront Park, where a historical marker lies giving an overview of the flooding from 1741-1954.

In the photo above, taken around 1926, you can also see an advertisement for the Cairo Hotel in D.C., which was built in 1894 in Dupont Circle as “Washington’s first skyscraper.” The construction of the hotel was so unpopular that it led to the passage of a 1910 law restricting the height of D.C. buildings. The Cairo remains the tallest private building in D.C.

The advertisement next to the Cairo Hotel was for the Bartholdi Restaurant on F St. NW, which was located at the center of D.C. at the time.

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A new cafe in Riverdale Park serving breakfast and lunch held its grand opening on Monday, Dec. 4.

Located at 5711 Sarvis Ave., just off Kenilworth Avenue, Sarvis Café is mostly staffed by students from Prince George’s Community College’s culinary arts program to help them gain real-world experience and more easily land jobs in the industry.

The menu includes grab-and-go croissants, bagels and coffee, breakfast standards like an egg sandwich and avocado toast with bacon and salads including beet, Caprese and Cobb for lunch. It also serves a house “Sarvis” zucchini bread made with whipped ricotta, fresh berries, roasted pecans, and local honey.

The cafe is managed by the nonprofit Central Kenilworth Avenue Revitalization Community Development Corporation.

CKAR Executive Director Patricia Hayes-Parker told the Hyattsville Wire that the cafe not only aims to train students, but serve an area that does not have other restaurants or grocery stores while also providing healthy food alternatives.

“It’s really a hub for the community,” she told the Wire.

Sarvis management is also partnering with local farmers to source produce for the cafe’s salads, sandwiches and soups.

The new cafe is the latest in a number of efforts on the Route 1 corridor to reduce the barriers to the dining industry, from making it easier to run a food truck to new ghost kitchens and food halls and training efforts like the new Emma’s Torch, nonprofit cafe run by refugees who are learning the culinary arts.

Sarvis Café hours are 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is closed on weekends.

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A popular pinball arcade in the back of Mom’s Organic Market in College Park will close in the coming weeks.

Mom’s founder Scott Nash said the arcade is closing because the strip mall’s owners have found a new tenant, an urgent care center.

The pinball machines and a handful of classic arcade games, which come from Nash’s personal collection, have attracted a crowd of regulars since the store opened in 2018 and were long a rainy-day favorite among parents who live along the Route 1 corridor.

Both groups appreciated the budget-friendly machines, which cost 25 or 50 cents, compared to the usual $1 at other arcades.

The collection includes classic games dating back decades as well as more recent ones tied to franchises like the Avengers and “Lord of the Rings.” (The newer games were popular with little kids because the computer chip inside will often grant a player who wasn’t doing well a few bonus balls.)

Nash told The Washington Post that he’s looking for a new space to house the collection.

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A long-awaited segment of the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail in Hyattsville will open Tuesday.

A small group of local and state officials will gather on the morning of Dec. 5 to officially open the half-mile paved segment stretching from Farragut Street south to Armentrout Drive.

The trail extension is important because it will connect the trolley trail to paths along the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River, which heads towards Montgomery County, and the Northeast Branch, which leads to D.C.

Bicyclists previously had to cross the heavily trafficked Rhode Island Avenue and ride along a narrow shoulder to connect to the other trails, discouraging casual cyclists and families with younger children.

The Hyattsville Community Development Corporation is planning its own celebration of the trail extension for Saturday, Jan. 20.

A small group of local businesses are also running a “pub crawl” along the path to celebrate the opening.

Stop by Franklins, Maryland Meadworks, Pizzeria Paradiso, Shortcake Bakery and other local businesses between Dec. 5 and Jan. 6 to pick up a punchcard that will get you discounts and turn in your completed punchcard for a chance to win prizes.

Or you can join a group of local cyclists on two celebratory rides along the trolley trail on from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9.

The rides, co-sponsored by Arrow Bicycle and Proteus Bicycles, will gather at Shortcake Bakery and at Proteus at 12:30 p.m., and meet in the middle at Denizen’s Brewing Co. at the Station at Riverdale Park.

And on Sunday, Dec. 10, the Runners SoHy group will do a self-paced three-mile run that includes the new trolley trail extension starting at 9 a.m.

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If you stop by Maryland Meadworks these days, you can still try some fall drinks.

The Hyattsville meadery at 4700 Rhode Island Ave., is nearly finished with this fall’s Figgitiboudit, a fig mead made from 20 pounds of figs harvested from a single location in College Park in October.

Meanwhile, it still has on tap ExorCyser, a half-mead, half-cider combination; Cranpa, a cranberry pomegranate mead; and pumpkin spice mead.

Owner Ken Carter told the Hyattsville Wire that the seasonal drinks are in part inspired by the general spirit of experimentation in mead making right now.

“American mead makers are really pushing the limits of ingredients,” he said.

Mead has taken off in recent years, growing from 60 producers in the U.S. in 2003 to 450 in 2020, and a recent report projected it will soon be a $2.26 billion market globally.

Carter said he’s planning collaborations with Vigilante Coffee, Denizens Brewing Co. and Franklins, as well as a mead using Tupelo honey from Louisiana, considered to be one of the finest quality honeys in the world.

A previous collaboration with Denizens produced a braggot — a combination of mead and beer — made with Miambo honey from Tanzania, Pilsner malt, a Belgian strong ale yeast, and Styrian Goldings hops.

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