Walker County is planning to return 1.4 acres at the old Durham mines site on Lookout Mountain to the Wingfield family.
Joe Legge of the commission office said it is property that the Wingfield family gave to the county for the Durham Trail project several years ago.
He said, "Since it hasn't been used for the purpose it was given, it is being returned."
Mr. Legge said, "The county does not plan to build this trail, so we are legally obligated to return it to the donating property owner.
"There is an effort by Lula Lake Land Trust to construct a new trail system nearby."
The item will be on the agenda at the April 8 meeting of the Walker County Commission.
Don Oliver, who served as county attorney for Walker County under the Bebe Haskell administration, had sought to have a trail go along sections of the route of the old train bed to the Durham mines. The trail was laid out from Durham Road to Vulcan Road.
Mr. Oliver, who has since died, had won a court order against a couple who sought to block the trail. When the administration of Commissioner Shannon Whitfield was installed that lawsuit was dismissed.