Archive for the ‘Hall of Fame’ Category

Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame inducts its first class

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
The Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame inducted its first class of honorees last Friday night, with trail founder Benton MacKaye and trail builder Myron H. Avery leading the inaugural group of six inductees.

Rounding out the list are Earl Shaffer, the first person to report an end-to-end thru-hike of the trail; Gene Espy, the second person to thru-hike the trail; Arthur Perkins, the first person to begin making MacKaye's dream a reality; and Ed Garvey, a trail maintainer and hiker whose seminal book on his 1970 northbound hike helped popularize thru-hiking in the 1970s.

Of the six, only Espy is still alive and in Boiling Springs, PA to receive the award in person, traveling up from his native Georgia to not only attend the ceremony but also to make his first visit to the Appalachian Trail Museum.

"The hike (in 1951) meant a lot to me but my appreciation goes to all the maintainers over these years and the people of the A.T. museum who made this award possible," a brief and humble Espy said as he received his award.

The induction banquet took place at Allenberry Resort, a few miles from the A.T. Museum in Pine Grove Furnace State Park, where the Hall of Fame will be housed.

Each inductee was presented with a beautifully handcarved walking stick made by John Bodet, aka "Bodacious," that will serve as the Hall of Fame's rendition of an Oscar statuette. Each honoree or his representative received a stick engraved with the person's name. And one additional walking stick was created with all of their names engraved -- that stick will be housed in the Museum.

To read more about the ceremony, as well as short biographies on each of the inductees, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in A.T., Benton MacKaye, Earl Shaffer, Hall of Fame, Myron H. Avery, appalachian trail | Comments Off

Deadline nears for Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame nominations

Thursday, March 24th, 2011
As announced earlier in the year, a Hall of Fame is being established by the Appalachian Trail Museum Society to recognize those who have made a significant contribution toward establishing and maintaining the 2,181-mile Appalachian Trail.

"The Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame is a natural fit with the museum that opened last June," said Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society. "The trail and the museum represent the collective efforts of volunteers who have made countless contributions in ways that are as varied as the personalities who have been involved. The hall of fame will recognize those people who have unselfishly devoted their time, energy and resources toward making the Appalachian Trail a national treasure."

As part of that announcement, the museum has been soliciting nominations for the hall from throughout the hiking and trails community. The nomination period closes on March 31, 2011. The museum is encouraging folks to continue to send in nominations, regardless of whether the person you’d like to nominate has already been named or not.

The following is a list of the persons who have been nominated for the hall as of February 28, 2011:

Benton MacKaye, Bill Bryson, Bob Peoples, Bob Proudman, Carol "Rambunny" Barnes, Casey Fulp, Charles Parry, Charles R. Rinaldi, Dan "Wingfoot" Bruce, Dave Startzell, Don O'Neal, Dorothy Laker, Earl V. Shaffer, Ed Garvey, Eddie Stone, Gene Espy, Gordon Burgess, "Grandma" Emma Rowena Gatewood, Harold "Houdini" Richards, Horace Kephart, Jean Stephenson, Karen Lutz, Mark "Stumpknocker" Suiters, Merlyn Seeley, Minnesota Smith, Miss Janet Hensley, Myron H. Avery, Norman D. Sills, Phyllis Henry, Ron Haven, Rufus Morgan, Steve Clark, Thurston Griggs, Tillie Wood, Tom Lavardi, (Ms.) Vaughn Thomas, Warren Doyle

Nominees will be formally inducted into the hall during the first annual Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday evening, June 17, 2011.

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 Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame Banquet, appalachian trail, nominations | Comments Off

Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Announced

Friday, January 7th, 2011
Earlier this week the Appalachian Trail Museum Society announced the establishment of a hall of fame that will recognize those who have made significant contributions towards establishing and maintaining the 2,181-mile footpath.

With the announcement, the Appalachian Trail Museum Society released the following details about the nomination criteria and nominating and selection processes:

Criteria - Those eligible for consideration include anyone who has made a major contribution to the Appalachian Trail, or otherwise has advanced the cause of the Appalachian Trail. These include, without limitation, pioneers who conceived of and developed the trail; those who organized or directed major trail organizations like the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Appalachian Trail maintaining clubs; longtime trail maintainers; leaders who promoted and protected the Appalachian Trail; hikers who have made significant accomplishments, and other persons who have enriched the culture or community of the Appalachian Trail by their association with it.

Nominations - Nominations will be solicited from throughout the hiking and trails community by clicking on this link. The deadline for nominations is March 20, 2011. Anyone may submit a nomination, without charge, regardless of whether he or she is a member of a hiking or trails organization. Only one nomination should be submitted per year per person.

Hall of Fame Committee; Election - An Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Committee has been selected by the Appalachian Trail Museum Society Board of Directors to supervise the election process and to submit the finalists to the board. That committee is chaired by Jim Foster, a museum volunteer and 2007 thru-hiker of the Appalachian Trail.

Announcement and recognition of inductees - Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame inductees will be announced during the Appalachian Trail Museum's annual festival, scheduled for the third weekend in June. The inductees will be enshrined on an Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Wall of Honor to be located in the Appalachian Trail Museum.

To visit the museum website, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Appalachian Trail Museum Society, Hall of Fame, appalachian trail | Comments Off