The
Appalachian Trail Museum Society serves the Appalachian
Trail community by telling the stories of the founding,
construction, preservation, maintenance, protection,
and enjoyment of the Trail since its creation. The Museum
will collect, preserve, and interpret materials relevant
to these subjects in an effort to portray not only the
history of the Trail, but also the essence of the physical,
intellectual, emotional, and spiritual human experience
of the Appalachian environment and the culture of hiking.
Our
mission statement is reflected in the Museum that is
located in Pennsylvania's Pine Grove Furnace State Park,
about two miles from the midpoint of the Appalachian
Trail, the Museum is halfway between Maine and Georgia.
Appropriately, the Museum is housed in a building that
is itself a historical artifact, a structure built more
than two hundred years ago as a grist mill. It stands
across the road from the Pine Grove General Store, a
site famed in hiker lore. It is here that thru-hikers
traditionally stop to celebrate reaching the midpoint
by eating -- or attempting to eat -- a half gallon of
ice cream in one sitting.
Take
a peek at the Appalachian Trail Museum through the four
minute video made by one of our ATMS members, TrailAngel
Mary:
Currently,
the museum has exhibits devoted to early founders of
the trail - Benton MacKaye and Myron Avery, as well
as some of the early Pioneer thru-hikers including Earl
Shaffer, Grandma Gatewood, Gene Espy, and Ed Garvey.
Another one of the highlights is the last remaining
shelter built by Earl Shaffer that has been painstakingly
dismantled and then reassembled inside the museum. A
computer station has access to a database of over 10,000
pictures of thru-hikers as they passed through Harper's
Ferry and stopped at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy
to check in, or just to say "Hi".
Contact
Information
1120
Pine Grove Road
Gardners,
PA 17324
Phone:
717 486-8126
