Established | 2010 |
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Location | Pine Grove Furnace State Park, Pennsylvania |
Coordinates | 40°01′57″N 77°18′20″W / 40.0326°N 77.3056°WCoordinates: 40°01′57″N 77°18′20″W / 40.0326°N 77.3056°W |
Website | http://www.atmuseum.org |
The Appalachian Trail Museum is located in Pine Grove Furnace State Park near Gardners, Pennsylvania, United States, and commemorates pioneer Appalachian Trail builders and hikers including those in the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame. Artifacts include a 1959 trail shelter from Peters Mountain and vintage hiking equipment such as canes.
The museum was conceived in 1998 and is located in a stone gristmill building of the former Pine Grove Iron Works. It is the first hiking museum in the United States.
The museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. seven days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day and noon to 4 p.m. on weekends until October 31 and reopens April 1. Parking is adjacent to the Furnace Stack Picnic Pavilion. Admission is free.
The Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame was established by the museum in 2011. Each year the Museum's Hall of Fame selection committee selects one or more persons to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Nominations for inclusion are accepted each year using an online survey site. Those eligible for inclusion include anyone who has made an exceptional and positive contribution to the Appalachian Trail or Appalachian Trail Community. Each year's honorees are honored at a Hall of Fame Banquet in June.
The 2011 Charter Class included Myron Avery, Gene Espy, Ed Garvey, Benton MacKaye, Arthur Perkins and Earl Shaffer.
The 2012 Class included Emma Rowena "Grandma" Gatewood, David A. Richie, J. Frank Schairer, Jean Stephenson and William Adams Welch. The 2013 Class included Ruth Blackburn, David Field, David Sherman, David Startzell and Everett (Eddie) Stone. The 2014 Class was A. Rufus Morgan, Charles R. "Chuck" Rinaldi, Clarence S. Stein and Pamela Underhill. In 2015, Nestell K. "Ned" Anderson, Margaret Drummond, Stanley A. Murray and Raymond H. Torrey were inducted. The 2016 class was Maurice Forrester, Horace Kephart, Larry Luxenberg and Henry "Arch" Nichols.