The lot off Quince Orchard Road still fills on weekend mornings. The barns behind it still stand. One thing is different this fall. As of September 2026, the Muddy Branch Greenway Trail trailhead at Potomac Horse Center Special Park sits closer to the parking lot than it used to, so the walk from car door to dirt path is shorter.
It's a small move, and it marks a bigger shift in purpose. For 31 years this 41.6-acre property, bounded by Quince Orchard Road on the west and north and Dufief Mill Road on the south, was a working equestrian center. Montgomery Parks now describes the trailhead as the site's main public amenity, and its current project is organized around that trailhead. From the north end of the corridor down to the C&O Canal, fall 2026 works the same way. Everything stays open, and almost every access point is partway through a change.
How a riding center became a trailhead
Potomac Horse Center Inc. ran the facility under a Montgomery Parks lease that began in 1993. Nancy Novograd was the owner and president. The lease ended over the condition of the buildings. In a letter dated December 22, 2023, Montgomery Parks said engineering reports found major structural hazards in the Main Barn, including a risk of collapse. It directed the operator to stop using the barn and move horses and operations out of it.
The two sides described what came next differently. Bethesda Magazine reported in May 2024 that Parks considered the operator responsible for maintenance and capital work under the 1993 lease. Deputy Director Gary Burnett called the $3 million to $5 million repair estimate a path to continued lease talks, not a bar to renewal. Novograd told the magazine the business could not afford that investment without assurance it could stay. She also called the lease's rent, revenue share, repairs, and animal-care costs unsustainable.
Here is how the site got from there to this fall:
- June 16, 2024: Last day of the center's late-spring lesson session. The operator told Equus Magazine it could not hold summer camp.
- June 17, 2024: School horses and other assets offered for sale to approved homes, by appointment.
- July 22, 2024: Permanent closure takes effect.
- November 2024: Parks begins removing interior fencing and jumps and cleaning up the grounds. It tentatively expects to demolish buildings beyond repair in spring 2025.
- September 2026: Trailhead relocated. The project is still listed as pre-demolition.
The spring 2025 demolition date slipped, and the barns still stand more than two years after the last lesson. Parks says they have reached the end of their structural life, and it moved the trailhead closer to the existing lot ahead of the demolition, calling the new spot easier to reach.
What stays open while the barns come down
Montgomery Parks now expects demolition to begin in late fall or winter 2026, with trail improvements to follow in spring and summer 2027. Parks says the parking lot, the Muddy Branch Greenway Trail, and Muddy Branch Stream Valley Park will all stay open to trail users during demolition.
The 2027 work is more than cleanup. The Spring 2026 Montgomery Parks and Planning Semiannual Outline describes the project as removing unsafe structures, improving the natural-surface trailhead, and building a new loop. Parks frames the whole effort as groundwork for "other potential recreational uses in the future." It has not named those uses, and the 2024 statements described the site's longer-term use as undecided.
What this site anchors is a long trail. Montgomery Parks describes the Muddy Branch Greenway as nine miles of natural-surface trail shared by hikers, bikers, and equestrians. A bridge links it to Pennyfield Lock and the C&O Canal. The trail is still officially shared with riders, though the barn at its north end no longer holds lesson horses. Starting at the horse center lot and walking south takes you through the corridor's other two changes this season.
Sharing the woods with archers through January
The middle of the corridor runs through Muddy Branch Stream Valley Park, and south of it lies Blockhouse Point Conservation Park. Both are on Montgomery Parks' 2026–27 archery deer management list, which covers Muddy Branch Units 1, 2, and 3. Neither park closes for it.
Here's what that means on a given weekday:
- Days: Archery hunting may take place Monday through Saturday. Sunday is not a hunting day under the program.
- Season: September through January, every year.
- Hours: From half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset, which covers the early and late walking hours that shrink as the days get shorter.
- Who hunts: Only hunters holding M-NCPPC permits, chosen through a screened lottery or as pre-selected cooperative groups.
- Notice: Montgomery Parks posts signs at park entrances, parking lots, trails, and in surrounding communities.
Firearms hunting works differently. Firearms parks close for 24 hours on each scheduled date, and neither Blockhouse Point nor Muddy Branch appears on that schedule. Watts Branch Stream Valley Park Units 1 through 4, listed under Potomac/Travilah, also follow the open-park archery schedule.
So the woods stay open through January, but you share them on six days a week.
The canal end has its own construction
At the south end, the Greenway's bridge crosses to Pennyfield Lock, and DC Water has work underway there too. Since a September 29, 2026 notice, the Pennyfield Lock boat ramp has been closed to vehicles towing boats for the length of the Potomac Interceptor Rehabilitation Project. Kayakers and other users without trailers can still reach the ramp. The work includes site preparation, excavation, and installing a new sewer pipe inside the existing Potomac Interceptor.
The National Park Service's C&O Canal conditions page, updated September 29, 2026, flags possible delays on Pennyfield Lock Road from the DC Water work. A September 2026 status report to the Maryland General Assembly set October 2026 as the target for finishing the main repair. Final closure of the bypass access openings is targeted for January 2027. Those are targets. DC Water says only that the ramp will reopen once work in the area is complete.
Neighboring canal access points are in better shape. On the same September 29 update, NPS listed the Swains Lock parking area and hiker-biker campground as open, along with the Seneca Aqueduct and Riley's Lock parking area. Swains Lock parking had been closed for flood-damage repairs earlier in the year, so it is a real alternative again. The canal itself is changing with the season. NPS reports it watered between Locks 21 and 22 and dewatered between Locks 22 and 23 as part of fall winter preparation. That affects the water in the canal, not towpath access.
Walking the corridor in October, north to south
Put together, a walk this month passes these points:
- Potomac Horse Center Special Park, Quince Orchard Road: Park in the existing lot and pick up the trail at the relocated trailhead, now closer to your car. Expect the barns to start coming down later this season. The lot and trail stay open while that happens.
- Muddy Branch Stream Valley Park: Archery management runs Monday through Saturday with no closure. Watch for posted signs at entrances and along the trail.
- Blockhouse Point Conservation Park: Same archery schedule. The Montgomery Bird Club's late-fall half-day bird walk here is set for Thursday, October 22, meeting at 8 a.m. James Fleming leads and Roy Howard co-leads. The group is capped at 10, and as of October 3 it was full with a waitlist.
- Pennyfield Lock: The bridge from the Greenway still lands here. The boat ramp is closed to trailers for now, and the access road may have delays.
- Swains Lock and Riley's Lock: Both parking areas were listed open as of September 29.
After a heavy rain, call Montgomery Parks' Rainout line at (240) 270-0008 or check the real-time trail status page before driving to a natural-surface trail like this one. By next summer, if the 2027 schedule holds, the walk from the Quince Orchard Road lot should include a new loop on ground the horse center used to occupy.
The parks near a home are part of what that home is, especially for longtime owners deciding what comes next. If you live along the Muddy Branch and want to talk about how changes like the new Potomac Horse Center trailhead fit into your own plans, Betsy Taylor would be glad to walk through it with you. Let's Connect.
