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ATTLEBORO - It was in 1992, when Verna DeVine was trying to lose weight that she saw a notice in the newspaper about a meeting at the former Texas Instruments for people interested in walking.

"I saw brochures about different places to walk," organized by the Walk 'n Mass

Volkssport Club, she said. DeVine took her first walk with members of the local club at LaSalette Shrine just before Christmas that year. Then members invited her to a walk in Danvers for New Year's Eve.

She walked away 25 pounds and has been a member of the club ever since, most recently taking part in the 17th annual holiday Volkswalk in Attleboro, which steps off from the shrine's grounds.

The 74-year-old city resident said "fun, fitness and friendship," part of the motto for the organization, is the reason she keeps walking with the group, in addition to the sights offered as part of the year-round walks, which are held throughout New England. "We walk all over the place," said DeVine of Attleboro, who's logged miles in Salem on Halloween and weekend walks in Maine and New Hampshire around Columbus Day, among other locations, over the years.

Of European origin, a "Volksmarch" or walk, is a non-competitive 3.1 mile (5 kilometer) or 6.2 mile (10 kilometer) walk that you participate in with a club, your family, your pet, or by yourself.

Introduced to US in 1960s

Volkssporting was introduced to this country in the 1960s via servicemen that were stationed in Germany, said Margo Craven, who has been a member of the local club since 1990 and who along with DeVine, helped to organize Attleboro's most recent walk.

According to the International Volkssport Federation, there are now more than 300 Volkssport clubs in the United States and thousands around the world.

Historic points of interest are among the key factors in selecting a walk's location, Craven said. Trails are also selected for safety, scenic interest, natural beauty and walkability. The trails are rated for each walk based on their, well, walkability.

For example, the 10K trail takes off from the shrine grounds and follows a 1/2-mile wooded path, then trails to venues including Capron Park and Zoo, the Old Kirk Yard Cemetery, the courthouse and railroad station - where President William Howard Taft once spoke to city residents. The trail then heads back to the shrine and is rated a 1.5 on a scale of 1 to 5. (Fairly easy; good for strollers, but not wheelchairs.) The Attleboro Area Industrial Museum served as the checkpoint for walkers.

"People have made it a tradition," Craven said of the holiday walk in Attleboro.

People can pick and choose which walks they participate in - "some people like towns, others like woods. A lot of the trails have a little of everything," Craven said. She said when people travel abroad, they also look up places through the international club to walk while they are there.

The Massachusetts chapter of the club is based in New Bedford, but Attleboro is a satellite group which has about 20 members. She estimated that the average age of walkers in the local club is 55, but that there are also young families as well as people in their 80s.

It cost $12 for an annual membership, which includes a pamphlet with the walks and a newsletter. The club is open to all ages. There are seasonal walks in Plymouth, Newton, Natick, Salem, Quincy, Concord, three in Boston, and in Bristol, Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, among others. The club also has mentors to map out areas that people suggest could become a regular trail in the future.

For Craven, who's logged around 3,500 kilometers since she started with the club, it's the social aspect and the idea that you can walk at your own pace, as well as the health benefits, that also keeps her involved. There is also the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in completing the walk that brings its own rewards, Craven said.

"I always feel better after" a walk, she said, noting that she is a "medium" walker. (She does a 10K walk in about 2 1/2 hours.)

"You deserve that ice cream cone after that," said the 62-year-old.

SUSAN LaHOUD can be reached at 508-236-0398 or at slahoud@thesunchronicle.com.