The Evolution of the Appalachian Trail: Sarah Gingerich

    For my final paper, I wrote a section about the history of the Appalachian Trail, connecting it to women’s experiences on it now. For this blog post, I thought I would share some of the history of the Appalachian Trail I gathered from Ronald Foresta’s “Transformation of the Appalachian Trail”.

    The AT shifted from a social vision to a more recreational, individualized experience. Benton Mackaye originally imagined the AT in 1921 as a part of a larger project that would preserve indigenous culture and offer a socioeconomic alternative to industrial society. However, once more modern professionals took control, the trail’s purpose changed, and the AT was framed as a place for personal retreat rather than societal reform. As a result of this, the AT lost a lot of its original reformist intention, and actually shows broader patterns of how industrial and consumer society shapes our relationship with nature. 

    Although not as originally intended, the AT serves as a great place for hikers to escape the industrialized world we live in.

Foresta, Ronald. “Transformation of the Appalachian Trail.” Geographical Review 77, no. 1 (January 1987): 76–85. https://www.jstor.org.

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