The Forks of the Road has a new marker to go along with a national distinction.

The city erected two signs announcing the Forks site as a “Millennium Trail.” The White House Millennium Council granted the site the distinction in 2000, but the signs were erected in December.

The Millennium Trails were aimed at creating, promoting and stimulating the creation of trails to “Honor the Past and Imagine the Future,” according to the Millennium Council’s Web site.

Friends of the Forks of the Road Coordinator Ser Seshs Ab Heter-C.M. Boxley said he applied for and received the title in 2000.

Because the most recent mayoral administration seemed more amenable to recognizing the distinction, Boxley said, he recently asked the city for signs.

The city willingly obliged.

Brett Brinegar, grants coordinator and cultural resource officer for the city, said she was not aware the site had the designation because she hadn’t seen a certificate at city hall.

“This was something Mr. Boxley brought to my attention six or eight weeks ago,” Brinegar said. “I think because of the changeover in mayors’ administration back in 2000, any sort of marking of it got lost in the shuffle.”

Brinegar said she was pleased with the outcome of the signs.

“We’re very proud of it,” she said. “It brings more attention to a site that certainly needs recognition.”

Traffic Maintenance Director Rick Freeman’s office helped design and create the signs.

“I did a little research on them in different states,” Freeman said. “Mr. Boxley seemed to prefer something that reflected the actual certificate. It gave it more detail than what is seen with other places, a little more explanation to it.”

The two signs cost about $48 each in materials and were made in-house, Freeman said.

Boxley said Wednesday he was pleased with the markers. He said he felt it almost represented a time capsule.

“If someone is sitting in 2050 and wants to see what was important to the country at the beginning of the millennium, they can go back and look,” he said.