Della Raye Loop

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Unknown

The Della Raye Trail at Munny Sokol Park has over the years, become my most enjoyable riding trail of all the trails in the area. Not only does the 1.2 mile loop offer the thrills of going as fast as you desire, if youre just a beginner shes a great intermediate riding trail. The trail is full of sharp turns and small hills over a narrow little bridge that follows a zig-zagged trail to its end.

Dellas Story

The inspiring story of one woman who struggled to maintain her dignity and strength while confined to a mental institution in the Depression-Era South. Eventually, she educated herself, married, raised a family, and managed her own business.

Throughout the compelling true story of Della Raye Rogers, her determination, strength, and faith stand as testaments of the enduring resilience of the human spirit against adversity. For twenty years, Della Raye lived at the Partlow State Asylum for Mental Deficients in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Left there by her uncle in 1929 at the age of four, along with her mother, aunt, and brother, she would know her mother only as another threat the attendants of the institution employed against her. She was subjected to beatings, made to work like a slave, and was given little formal education.

Growing up as she did, a small child in a world of people suffering from a variety of mental disabilities, it is amazing that for twenty years she would continue to hope that she would someday be free, that she would continue to fight to be treated with basic respect, and that she would emerge, finally, a whole and vital adult. Della Raye not only continued to hope and to fight, for her trials did not end with her release, but she learned to forgive those who sought, by intent or by inaction, to destroy her.

Della Raye became a beautician and married Floyd Hughes, a widower with five daughters, in 1951. Together they also had two boys, Donny and Butch. She has visited a number of the people who worked at Partlow in nursing homes and hospitals and has remained in contact with many of the people she met during her confinement.

If you enjoy a laid back ride full of mysterious sites, then Della is definitely the ride, run or walk experience for you.