Archive for the ‘Appalachian Trail Museum’ Category

Appalachian Trail to be relocated near AT Museum

Sunday, March 13th, 2011
A section of the Appalachian Trail in Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania will soon be relocated so it passes by the front door of the Appalachian Trail Museum, which opened last year in the park.

"This is just one of many exciting changes that we are working on before we open the museum for its second season on Saturday, April 2," said Larry Luxenberg. president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society. "Second phase development and new exhibits are being planned, and we have an extensive effort underway to offer programs on Sunday afternoons for all ages, especially children. Of course, all of this takes resources."

Luxenberg said the museum board of directors and others are actively seeking financial contributions in order to receive a $50,000 matching grant that has been offered to the museum. In order to receive the $50,000, a like amount needs to be raised from other sources. The Appalachian Trail Museum depends completely on private donations for operating funds.

Equally important is the need for volunteers to serve as museum docents, maintenance team members and program leaders. Luxenberg said program leaders will educate the public, inspire young people, entertain children, preserve the Appalachian Trail’s natural environment, spotlight the trail's rich history, acknowledge the trail's pioneer hikers, and in general celebrate all those who contribute to the Appalachian Trail community.

Gwen Loose, program chair for the museum, said preliminary plans for season two programs include:

* Story-telling, songs and activities for children
* Arts and crafts on the Appalachian Trail (photography, painting, handcrafts)
* Natural features of the Appalachian Trail
* Trail maintenance techniques
* Hiker skills and equipment - past and present
* Shelter building
* History of Appalachian Trail maintaining clubs
* Pioneer hiker profiles and why they are important
* First person hiking experiences and accomplishments

Other topics are invited, and they may be submitted to info@atmuseum.org for consideration. Anyone interested in being an Appalachian Trail Museum volunteer may respond to atmuseumgreeters@gmail.com or 717-486-4083.

Additionally, Loose said there probably will be hikes led by program leaders who will tie a hike to a specific topic, such as plants and other life along the Appalachian Trail.

Located in a 200-year-old, restored grist mill in historic Pine Grove Furnace State Park and at the midway point of the 2,181-mile-long Appalachian Trail, the museum is across from the Pine Grove General Store on Pennsylvania Route 233 in Cumberland County.




Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Appalachian Trail Museum, Pine Grove Furnace State Park, appalachian trail, relocation | Comments Off

Appalachian Trail Museum prepares for Phase 2

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Cumberlink.com posted an article on their website last week stating that the Appalachian Trail Museum is already preparing for Phase 2 of their opening.

Located in Pine Grove Furnace State Park at the midway point of the Appalachian Trail, the museum opened its doors to the public on June 5.

The museum's first exhibits tell the stories of the founding, construction, preservation, maintenance, protection and enjoyment of the trail since its inception in the 1920s. Among the trail pioneers honored with exhibits are Benton MacKaye, who is credited with conceptualizing the Appalachian Trail, and Myron Avery, who is credited with spearheading construction of the trail that was completed in 1937.

Second-phase exhibits will continue to portray not only the history of the Appalachian Trail, but also the essence of the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual human experience of the Appalachian environment and the culture of hiking, said Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society.

Among the exhibits in the second phase will be hiking and trail maintenance artifacts, he added.

You can read the full article by clicking here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Posted in Appalachian Trail Museum, Phase 2 | Comments Off

Appalachian Trail Museum set to open next June

Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Don't know if any of you have heard about this or not, but a new Appalachian Trail Museum will be opening next year, on National Trails Day, June 5, 2010. It will be located in a 200-year-old grist mill at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania, roughly the mid-point along the 2175-mile, Maine-to-Georgia trail.

One of the really cool things about the new museum is that thru-hikers will become living history "interpreters". The museum will feature a "hikers' center," a lounge area of sorts, designed to promote interaction between visitors and hikers who stop in for breaks as they pass through the park.

The museum will also feature a hikers shelter built by Earl Shaffer, the first person to walk the entire trail in one season in 1948. The shelter, which stood atop Peters Mountain in Dauphin County, was painstakingly dismantled in order to to preserve it for the museum.

The museum will also have plenty of standard museum fare: artifacts and archives of Appalachian Trail records and photos. Other attractions will include a children's discovery area, where kids can play with camping equipment.

There will also be a video wall that will display the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's archive of more than 12,000 photographs of hikers taken as they passed through the trail's headquarters in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Those photos will also will be available on the museum website.

Speaking of the website, it looks like you'll be able to spend many days surfing the site once it's complete. The site is in the process of collecting the best short stories from the trail. The site has categorized the stories into areas of interest such as; origins of trail names, shelter life, unexplained happenings, trail magic, weather stories, ranger encounters and many others.

To build an Appalachian Trail historical timeline, the site is also in the process of assembling trail journals that are categorized by year going back to 1927.

The grist mill building, which is just a few steps off the trail, is within two miles of the Appalachian Trail's midpoint. The building is next to the Pine Grove General Store, home of the Half Gallon Club, a favorite stop for long-distance hikers where they try to eat an entire half gallon of ice cream in a single sitting.

You can visit the museum's website by clicking here.





Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.

Posted in Appalachian Trail Museum, Earl Shaffer, Half Gallon Club, Pennsylvania, Pine Grove Furnace State Park, Pine Grove General Store, grist mill, thru-hikers | Comments Off