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Notice of Museum Annual Membership Meeting

2/11/2026

The Appalachian Trail Museum, Inc. will hold its Annual Membership Meeting on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at 7 pm. The meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. The meeting information appears below. All Museum Members in good standing are invited to attend and will have a vote. The public is also invited to attend.

At the Membership Meeting, the Officer and non-officer Director positions shown below will be elected. The Board of Directors has nominated the following persons to these positions for a two-year term:
Secretary: Ed Riggs
Treasurer: Jay Sexton
Membership Secretary: Robert Croyle
Non-Officer Directors: Judy Bennett, Dakota Jackson, Larry Luxenberg

Museum members in good standing may submit alternate nominations for these positions by no later than Monday, March 9. Nominations should be submitted by email to [email protected].

Zoom Meeting Information
A.T. Museum Annual Membership Meeting
Time: Mar 24, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting:
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Meeting ID: 841 1565 4140
Passcode: 695244
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Larry Luxenberg Resigns As Museum President; Bill O’Brien Elected President

2/11/2026

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(l to r) Bill O'Brien, Larry Luxenberg and Gene Espy, second person to thru-hike the A.T., at 2016 Hall of Fame Banquet, credit Dan Innamorato

In January, 2026, Larry Luxenberg announced to the Board of Directors of the Appalachian Trail Museum his intention to resign as President. Larry’s statement read in part: “After careful reflection, I have decided that it’s a good time for me to step down as President. I will soon turn 71 and have served in a leadership capacity with the Museum for 28 years. I feel it’s time to bring fresh ideas and energy to the leadership and I’m confident that we have a team in place that can carry the Museum forward. I plan to remain engaged with the Museum. I look forward to seeing the Museum evolve and grow over the years and am thankful for the many friendships that have resulted from this project.”

Meeting on February 11, the Museum Board agreed to accept Larry’s resignation with regret. The Board acted to name Bill O’Brien as Museum President effective immediately. Bill will serve as President for the remainder of Larry’s term, until the Museum’s 2027 Annual Membership Meeting.

Bill said: “I join with the rest of the Board in thanking Larry for his many years of service as Founder and President. Some other Board members and I have persuaded Larry to run for election as an outside Director of the Museum at the 2026 Annual Membership Meeting. Larry’s insights and experience will be vital as we navigate the next phase of the Museum’s existence.”

Bill O’Brien has been intimately involved with the Appalachian Trail for most of his life, in several capacities. Bill thru-hiked the A.T. in 1989 and again in 1992. He’s been a member of Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association (ALDHA) since his first thru-hike and has served ALDHA in several capacities, including Coordinator and newsletter editor. Bill has served on the Board of Managers of Appalachian Trail Conference (now Conservancy). He has served on the A.T. Museum’s Board since its inception and has been Secretary of the Board since 2004. He also serves on the Museum’s Hall of Fame selection committee.

At its February meeting the Museum Board also set the date and time of the 2026 Annual Membership meeting. It will be March 24 at 7 pm via Zoom. More information on the Annual Meeting will be included in a separate release.

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Important Museum Board Meeting

2/2/2026

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The Appalachian Trail Museum will hold an important Board Meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, February 11 beginning at 7 pm. In addition to the Board, all members and friends of the Museum are invited to attend. Zoom information is provided below.
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A.T. Museum is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: A.T. Museum Board Meeting
Time: Feb 11, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87313234032?pwd=l6DsIpbvbwSpHRPZjqwSbL38rKmK2u.1

Meeting ID: 873 1323 4032
Passcode: 139430

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Museum President Larry Luxenberg's 2025 Progress Letter

11/30/2025

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By any measure, the Appalachian Trail is now a century old. That’s old enough to venerate but still young enough for a human to appreciate. It is merely the span of one long human lifetime. We learned this lesson again in August when Gene Espy, the second thru-hiker, passed away in his Georgia home. Gene loved the trail till the end and as a true gentleman of the trail epitomized the best of the qualities of all hikers and people in general.

Close to the A.T.’s founding, Jean Stephenson, one of the A.T.’s initial leaders was quoted in “Impressions of the Maine Wilderness,” in 1941: “Though new as an “endless foothpath through the wilderness,” the Trail itself seems age-old, so naturally does it fit into its surroundings. Just a path, now through old clearings sweet scented with grasses in the sun, through dim forests, then up through scrub and out over bare mountain ledges, it seems it’s been since the beginning; it seems it will be till the end.”

This spring, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, celebrated the centennial of its founding on March 3 in Washington, D.C. ATC has always been the guiding non-profit group shepherding the trail. Not an easy assignment by any measure.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe how much high-level support the Appalachian Trail got from the very beginning. Stephen T. Mather, first director of the National Park Service, attended that founding ATC meeting as did many other significant outdoor leaders in eastern America.
One attendee particularly intrigues me. Frederic A. Delano, uncle of future president FDR, welcomed the attendees, according to historian Larry Anderson. FDR, who in 1925 became first chairman of the Taconic State Park Commission in New York State, corresponded and met with A.T. founder Benton MacKaye in the 1920s as MacKaye worked on the A.T. route including in present day Fahnestock Park.

Another FDR tie to the A.T. is more tragic. In August, 1921, a month after MacKaye’s public proposal of the A.T., FDR is believed to have contracted polio while swimming at Bear Mountain State Park in N.Y., which became the first stretch of the A.T. However, the symptoms didn’t show up for a few days until FDR was at his retreat at Campobello Island.
The treasured heritage of the A.T. is one of the special things that sets the A.T. Museum apart from the other 35,000 U.S. museums. The A.T. itself is arguably the most famous hiking trail in the world. The A.T. community is special, too, with its tradition of voluntarism and its reverence for the history and culture of the Trail. With this special heritage, the A.T. Museum must strive hard to be worthy of this legacy.

During the year, the Museum’s 16th season, the Museum published the Hiker Yearbook for the second time. While staying true to its roots, manager Julie Queen produced a beautiful book. We are also able to provide back copies of the Hiker Yearbook as well.
In June, the Museum held its first Arts & Culture festival in collaboration with the Earl Shaffer Foundation. The festival featured a dozen A.T. authors, several musicians, a story teller, children’s author, videographers and others. Our second Arts & Culture Festival, again with the Earl Shaffer Foundation, is scheduled for Saturday June 20, 2026 in Pine Grove Furnace State Park. We hope to attract an even broader lineup of cultural figures for this one. To promote the festival, longtime volunteer, Alan “Gonzo” Strackeljahn produced a beautiful poster.

Author Shayla “Kiddo” Paradeis, talked about her book. Also, a talented musician and story teller, Shayla will be back in 2026. Shayla presented again at the Museum on Labor Day Weekend.
Another notable presentation during the summer was Professor and Author Kip Redick of Christopher Newport University in Virginia. Kip, a former ALDHA Coordinator and frequent long-distance hiker, has done several presentations for the Museum including on his latest book, American Camino, about the A.T. The Museum hosted Kip at the Bosler Library in Carlisle.
Early in the season, the Museum hosted a presentation by Heather “Anish” Anderson and Christine Reed, cosponsored by ATC, on “How Did the A.T. Change Your Life?” Both Heather and Christine had spoken before at the Museum and Heather is featured in a Museum exhibit.

The Museum added several exhibits during the season through the efforts of Gwen Loose. One featured Nimblewill Nomad and Nan “Drag’n Fly” Reisinger. Nimblewill was the oldest thru-hiker and Nan the oldest woman, at least until the end of the 2025 hiking season. Nan, a Museum volunteer, ended her record-breaking hike at the Museum.

A new exhibit features the achievements of young A.T. hikers including a scrapbook of photos and their stories in their own words. The exhibit also contains shoes, clothing, packs and other items from their A.T. hikes. We also added a beautiful mural in the children’s area done by longtime Museum volunteer Nancy Stawitz Barnhart and Janette Toth-Musser.

In addition, we put a roof on the outdoor Darlington Shelter and prepared interpretative materials for that exhibit for next year. We continued work on the 3 D Map and expect to have all of its monitors complete in 2026.

The Museum continued its outreach efforts with tables at Trail Days and the Gathering as well as at REI in Mechanicsburg, the Loudon, Va., Appalachian Trail Festival and the Outdoor Festival in Waynesboro.

We added to the Museum collection and beefed up our shelving at our storage area in Carlisle thanks to the generosity of volunteers Sandy and Jerry and the continued efforts of Becky. We also loaned objects from our collection to the George Mason University A.T. exhibit this fall.
While most of our volunteers work various shifts with only one or two others, we continued to have monthly volunteer picnics as well as some outings for volunteers so they can get to know each other. Besides working as greeters, organizing the library and storage area and helping on new exhibits and other activities, volunteers stained the ramp leading to the Museum’s second floor and painted and did considerable other repair work at the hostel.

Our volunteers keep the Museum open and thanks to their efforts the Museum was open for each shift all season and never had to close for lack of volunteers, a notable achievement for us. A big help in keeping the Museum open was our intern, Tyler of Shippensburg University. For most years, we’ve had at least one intern and they are a big help in staffing the Museum as well as working on their individual projects.

The A.T. Museum continues to maintain the largest collection of A.T. books anywhere as well as many other materials led by librarian Kurt Bodling. The library has 3,635 items including 2,785 books, 341 maps, 245 guidebooks and 256 multimedia items (including DVDs and VHS tapes). The library’s online catalogue is at https://www.librarycat.org/libAppTrailMuseum.

Among the researchers this year was one from West Virginia who spent three full days looking into the history of backpacking gear used by A.T. hikers from the early days up into the 1990s.
After a five-year absence, we resumed the Hall of Fame Banquet with a special event this November in Shepherdstown, W.Va., organized by Lisa Kovatch and Jim Foster. The inductees are Richard Anderson, founder of the International Appalachian Trail; Marion Park, an original organizer of ATC; Walter Greene, a Broadway actor, who took the A.T. through the Maine Wilderness; and Ron Tipton, a key A.T. leader as ATC CEO, a founder of ALDHA, and an A.T. advocate on Capitol Hill for a half century.

In the Ironmasters Hostel, we have a room devoted to the A.T. Hall of Fame with plaques for each of the inductees and many of the signature walking sticks awarded to inductees.

Welcoming visitors to the Museum is the lush garden surrounding the Museum entrance and ramp carefully tended by gardener Ann Bodling. The garden continues to morph as plants reseed and jockey for position, ensuring that the garden never looks quite the same year after year. The garden continues to receive compliments and mesmerize visitors when in full bloom and hosting more bees than anyone can count. We received a $500 grant from the Sandy Hollow Arts and Recreation for the Environment to add additional native plants to extend the garden’s bloom season and to create signage to identify the plants that Museum visitors see.

We continue to ask history minded readers to nominate worthy candidates for the Hall of Fame. We are especially interested in recognizing overlooked trail pioneers, members of small clubs and volunteers from the far reaches of the trail who made unusual contributions to the A.T. community.

We also welcome volunteers who come to the Museum for a few days and are welcome to stay at Ironmasters Hostel. We are always interested in adding interns as well.

This year retired Professor Mills Kelly of George Mason University joined the Museum board.

As always, the key to a successful season for the Museum are Museum Manager Julie Queen and Hostel Keeper Missy Shank. We also thank our many volunteers and our supporters throughout the trail community and we look forward to another great year in 2026.

For those in a position to support the Museum’s continued growth and operations, we appreciate any financial contribution. To contribute, please follow THIS LINK. All contributions through December 31, 2026, are added together to give a donor their plaque listing level. Your support makes the Museum the success we all enjoy!

Sincerely,
Larry Luxenberg
Museum President, www.atmuseum.org

Contact info: Julie Queen, Museum Manager, 717-486-8126, [email protected] or [email protected]

Missy Shank, Ironmasters Manager, 717-486-4108, [email protected]

Robert “Red Wolf o’da Smoky’s” Croyle, Museum Membership Secretary, [email protected]

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Nominations for 2026 Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Accepted through January 31

11/30/2025

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2025 A.T. Hall of Fame Class Honorees & Representatives credit Dan Innamorato

Nominations for the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will be accepted through January 31, 2026. The Hall of Fame recognizes those who have made a significant contribution toward establishing and maintaining the approximately 2,190 mile footpath that passes through 14 states from Maine to Georgia.
"The sixteenth class of the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame will be inducted in 2026, and nominations are open for Hall of Fame nominees," said Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum – the organization that oversees the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame. "Nominees should be people who have made a significant positive contribution to the Appalachian Trail and who have unselfishly devoted their time, energy and resources toward making the Appalachian Trail a national treasure."

63 individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame in the first fifteen years. Their names and biographies can be found on the Museum's website, www.atmuseum.org "These pioneers played critical roles in building, maintaining, protecting and publicizing the Appalachian Trail", Luxenberg said.

Nomination criteria and the nominating and selection processes for the 2026 Hall of Fame are:

Criteria - Those eligible for inclusion include anyone who has made an exceptional and positive contribution to the Appalachian Trail or Appalachian Trail community. This could be by leadership, inspiration, service, achievement or innovation. This includes, without limitation, pioneers who conceived of and developed the trail; those who organized or directed major trail organizations like the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and Appalachian Trail clubs; maintaining clubs; longtime trail maintainers; leaders who promoted and protected the A.T.; 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. Eligible persons can be living or deceased. The emphasis will be on persons who have made their contribution to the A.T. over a long period, whether or not they are still active. Eligibility and selection will be determined without regard to race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin.

Nominations – Nominations will be solicited from throughout the hiking and trails community. The easiest way to submit a nomination is by using the online site https://tinyurl.com/y5tpw6u5 Nominations also may be submitted using the paper nomination form. Copies of the paper form can be obtained at https://tinyurl.com/2upbcpet or by requesting one from the Museum. A nominator need not be a member of any hiking organization to submit a nomination. A nominator may only make one nomination per election cycle. Nominators will be asked to justify their nomination in a brief statement that describes the nominee and why he or she fits the criteria.

Deadline for nominations – January 31, 2026.

Hall of Fame Committee; Election – An Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Committee has been selected by the Appalachian Trail Museum Board of Directors to supervise the election process. That Committee is chaired by Jim Foster. Other members of the committee are David Field (a 2013 Hall of Fame inductee), Brian King, Gwen Loose, Karen Lutz, Larry Luxenberg (a 2016 inductee), Bill O’Brien and Ron Tipton (a 2025 inductee). The Committee elected six people to the 2011 Charter Class, five to the 2012 Class, five to the 2013 Class, and four each to the classes since then.

Announcement and recognition of inductees – Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame inductees will be announced in early April. They will be inducted at a time and place to be announced. The inductees will be enshrined on an Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Wall of Honor at the Ironmaster’s Mansion, located near the Museum. Located in Pine Grove Furnace State Park and at the midway point of the Appalachian Trail, the Museum is near the Pine Grove General Store on Pennsylvania Route 233.

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Hall of Fame Induction Day Honors Four Trail Legends

11/23/2025

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Four new inductees into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame were honored at the A.T. Hall of Fame Banquet & Induction Ceremony, held on November 22, 2025. The venue for the event was the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Emcee for the Induction was Dave Startzell, retired CEO of Appalachian Trail Conservancy. A crowd of one hundred celebrated the Induction.

The 2025 Hall of Fame class is Richard B. Anderson of Camden, Maine; the late Walter Greene of New York City, New York, the late Marion Park of Washington, DC, and Ronald Tipton of Rockville, Maryland.

In addition to the luncheon Banquet and Induction, Hall of Fame Day featured interviews with the Hall of Fame inductees and representatives, a panel discussion on a century of Appalachian Trail Conservancy and a preview screening of a movie on the life of George Masa, a 2018 Hall of Fame inductee. Music during the Induction reception was provided by Randy “Windtalker” Motz.

Richard Anderson, credit Maine Historical Society

Most folks know that the Appalachian Trail starts in northern Georgia and proceeds through fourteen states and ends in central Maine. But, around 200 million years ago, most of Earth’s surface was sort of united in a super continent called Pangea. At the places where the tectonic plates came together a mountain range was formed called the Central Pangean Range.
In 1993, Richard Anderson, the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation, developed a plan to create just such a trail connecting Maine’s Katahdin to Mont Carleton in New Brunswick and then on to Mount Jacques Cartier in Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula. On Earth Day, April 22, 1994, the proposal to build a hiking trail through the northern Appalachian Mountains was announced at a news conference in Portland, Maine. That idea became the International Appalachian Trail.

Since then, this mission has been embraced in Greenland and Iceland and across the arc of the North Atlantic to Europe and North Africa. The IAT now comprises 23 Chapters on three continents from Maine to Morocco. Progress to maintain and improve the trail experience continues in work with landowners, hikers, conservation organizations, and local, regional and national governments. The A.T. Museum applauds this as a logical extension of Benton MacKaye’s concept of a trail linking the Appalachians in the U.S.

Walter Greene, credit Dave Field

Before Myron Avery went to Maine, Walter Greene laid out the trail route in northern part of Maine and did some of the first trail construction. He was a Broadway actor who spent most of his summers in Maine. Greene was the first President of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club. He and Avery met by chance near Katahdin around 1930. During the summer of 1932, Walter Greene made several trips into 120 miles of woods between Katahdin and Blanchard to work out a route for the Trail and began to scout and blaze the route across the formidable Barren-Chairback Range.

The original route of the A.T. from Katahdin to Blanchard was due more to his scouting than that of anyone else. He joined the famous expedition of 1933 that blazed the Trail from Katahdin to the West Branch of the Pleasant River and then led the group from there to Blanchard. He continued to explore and refine the route during 1934. In 1935 Greene worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps crews who were building much of the new A.T. and also the critical cable bridge across the West Branch of the Penobscot River. He spent the winter of 1936 making 40 of the signs to be used on the new route.
His health began to fail late in the year and he was hospitalized in New York in November. After a long battle with colon cancer he passed away in 1941. He's not well known today because he accomplished so much within just a five-year period and because he died so young.

Marion Park, credit ATC

There is a picture of a group of men in suits, just off work from their mostly government day jobs, sitting around a wood-paneled study, talking Trail. Sitting on the floor taking notes is Marion Park, who joined the Potomac A.T. Club in 1933 and helped edit its early newsletter. Then in 1941 she replaced Harlean James as secretary of ATC, whom she had assisted since 1937. Marion served in that position until 1955. In those days it meant keeping records of all the ATC (and cross-over PATC) meetings and often going out in the field with speed-hiker Myron Avery, taking notes as he measured and noted deficiencies at the same time. The accuracy of those notes endures and was essential to the organization’s governance, guidebooks, and maps in its first three decades. In addition, she was Treasurer of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club from 1937-1957.

In addition, Park and Jean Stephenson maintained a side trail to the A.T. from the Meadow Spring and Buck Hollow trails in Shenandoah. Every organization needs a Marion Park at its quiet center to keep it grounded, without recognition, documenting decisions and plans and doing all of the things essential to its success.

Ron Tipton

Ron Tipton can be called an Appalachian Trail lifer. Ron joined the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club in 1974, starting a lifelong association with the A.T. In the 1970s, Ron worked behind the scenes in Washington to advocate for permanent protection of the Trail – a quest that ultimately succeeded when Congress approved the Appalachian Trail amendments to the National Trails System Act.

Ron then accepted an assignment from the National Park Service lands office to use his hike of the entire Appalachian Trail to prepare a report on priorities for protection of the Trail. Ron served on the ATC Board of Directors from 1981 to 1985 and was one of the founders of the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association. He then spent 14 years on senior staff for the Wilderness Society and 14 more at the National Parks Conservation Association, working with ATC and the Trail clubs to secure annual funding for protecting and managing the Trail.
In 2013, Appalachian Trail Conservancy was in a difficult place. The CEO who was hired to replace the irreplaceable Dave Startzell had not worked out well. Luckily, the ATC Board made an excellent choice this time and selected Ron. Ron stabilized the organization, reconnected its strong relationships with the 31 Trail clubs and dozens of agency partners, and raised more private and foundation money for the Conservancy than anyone in its history.
After his “retirement” in 2018, he continued to work with on the Appalachian Trail Landscape Conservation Initiative, on the Board for the Partnership for the National Trails System, as well as the A.T. Museum’s Hall of Fame selection committee.

Also honored at the Induction were Steve Paradis, recipient of the Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Sandi Marra, retiring CEO of Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Follow THIS LINK for more on the Banquet, including pictures.

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George Masa Film Screening on November 22 at 7 pm

11/7/2025

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The 2025 AT Hall of Fame Banquet Committee is excited to announce that the Shepherdstown Opera House will present a special sneak peek screening of the documentary A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story on Saturday, November 22 at 7 PM. George Masa (A.T. Hall of Fame, 2018) was a Japanese immigrant and photographer whose work helped in the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Admission for the screening is pay what you can. You can make a donation to the Opera House with a credit card when you secure your film tickets or with cash at the door. Follow THIS LINK to secure your tickets. The Shepherdstown Opera House is located at 131 W. German Street, Shepherdstown, WV 25443. Call this number for more information: 304-876-3704

This Sneak Peek screening is presented courtesy of the filmmaker Paul Bonesteel, in cooperation with the Appalachian Trail Museum, and made possible with a grant from the Jefferson Arts Council. A Q&A with Bonesteel will follow the film. Bonesteel is based in Asheville, North Carolina, and known for creating documentaries that explore American history and culture.

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A.T. Hall Of Fame Day Will Feature A Full Slate Of Activities

10/26/2025

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Bavarian Inn, Shepherdstown, WV

Our 2025 Hall of Fame Banquet will be here soon. We have planned a full day of activities. Our 2025 venue is the Bavarian Inn, located at 164 Shepherd Grade Road, Shepherdstown, WV 25443. We are thrilled to have a Banquet again after a five year absence.

The day will begin with interviews of the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees and representatives. Our 2025 Class is Richard B. Anderson of Camden, Maine; the late Walter Greene of New York City, New York, the late Marion Park of Washington, DC, and Ronald Tipton of Rockville, Maryland. Find out more about these trail icons HERE.

Randy "Windtalker" Motz

A reception will follow at 11 am, featuring the music of Randy "Windtalker" Motz.

Next will be the banquet luncheon, at noon. The Hall of Fame induction will be at 1 pm. The MC will be Dave Startzell, past CEO of Appalachian Trail Conservancy. At 2:30 pm, we will have a panel discussion on the 100 year celebration of Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Dave Startzell, retired CEO of ATC and 2025 Induction MC

Tickets for the 2025 Hall of Fame Banquet are on sale now through November 13 and seating is limited. Follow THIS LINK to get your tickets.

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PCN Visits the A.T. Museum

10/2/2025

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The Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) recently visited the Appalachian Trail Museum. Host Carson Devitt interviewed Museum volunteer Jim Foster and learned about the history of America's most popular long distance hiking trail. She also stopped by the Pine Grove Furnace store, home of the Half Gallon Challenge, and talked to a hiker attempting a thru-hike.

HERE is a link to the video on PCN's YouTube page. It will debut on the PCN cable channel on October 14 and will air from time to time after that.

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Gene Espy 1927-2025

8/28/2025

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Eugene Espy, known by everyone as Gene, passed away at age 98 recently. Gene was the second person to thru-hike the A.T., in 1951. In 2011, Gene was the only living member of the Charter Class of the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame.

Here’s what we said about Gene when he was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2011:
Our next honoree became, in 1951, the second person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. His well known book, “The Trail of My Life” has inspired many to follow in his footsteps. He has lived a life full of adventures including hiking, bicycling, spelunking, boating and motorcycling. From an early age, this Eagle Scout, Georgia Tech graduate, and U.S. Air Force aerospace engineer explored the world around him just for fun. The highlight of all his adventures was his AT thru-hike. He is a well-known speaker who enjoys telling about his AT hike and many other experiences. His now vintage hiking equipment is on display in the visitors center at Amicalola Falls State Park, Georgia near the approach trail to Springer Mountain. We are thrilled that one member of our Charter Class, Mr. Gene Espy, is alive to personally receive the honor of a place in the Charter Class of the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame.
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Gene was a great friend of the Museum. We were graced by his presence twice at our Hall of Fame Banquet, once when he was inducted in 2011 and again in 2016.
Here is Gene’s obituary.
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Eugene Marion Espy of Atlanta, Georgia, formerly of Macon, Georgia, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on August 22, 2025.
Gene was born on April 14, 1927, in Cordele, Georgia, the son of the late Alto Lee Espy and Iona Peterman Espy. His extraordinary life began with an idyllic childhood that endowed him with a zest for living and learning.
Gene became Cordele’s first Eagle Scout in 1943 and stayed involved in Boy Scouts through troop leadership and mentorship. He graduated in 1944 as the Valedictorian and Senior Class President from Cordele High School. Gene left the Georgia Institute of Technology to proudly serve his country in the U.S. Navy. Returning after World War II, he played clarinet in its marching band and joined the Alpha Tao Omega fraternity. Gene became “a helluva engineer” as he graduated in 1950 with a B.S. in Industrial Management. His support of Georgia Tech and its football team remained strong along with his love of Sousa marching band music.
Ever curious, Gene embraced all the adventures that the outdoors offered as he explored his hometown and the world beyond. As a boy, he rode his bicycle out to Lake Blackshear to fish. He built beautiful wooden powerboats, taught himself and others to water ski using his homemade skis, and explored caves and waters all over the Southeast. An excellent sailor, Gene sailed 300 miles solo down the Ocmulgee River to the Intracoastal Waterway. He told captivating stories of his 740-mile solo bicycle trip at age sixteen and hitch-hiking in college. Gene even rode his beloved motorcycle up Stone Mountain just for the thrill.
At age 24, Gene became recognized as the second thru-hiker of the Appalachian Trail and secured his place as one of its legendary pioneers. A winter mountain hike in college had inspired Gene to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail and “see God through nature.” Gene succeeded in his 123-day thru-hike of 2050 miles on September 30, 1951, by reaching Mt. Katahdin where he knelt down and thanked God. He returned over the years to section hike and support other hikers. Gene delighted in visiting the Amicalola Falls State Park Visitor Center to meet hikers, tell stories, and see his 1951 hiking equipment on display.
In 2011, Gene was honored as one of six inductees into the charter class of the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame. Honoring the sixtieth anniversary of his summit on Mt. Katahdin, his city of Macon, Georgia, declared it as Gene Espy Day. Although he wrote his autobiography, “The Trail of My Life,” and often gave speeches and interviews, Gene always expressed interest in others’ outdoor adventures and encouraged people to "keep going one step at a time” through life’s challenges. Gene’s impact as an enthusiastic ambassador for the Appalachian Trail will continue.

As an engineer, Gene was well-recognized for his problem-solving and time management ideas. While his early career included overseeing the building of shrimp trawlers and the manufacture of clothing, he spent thirty years as an aeronautical engineer at Robins Air Force Base.
A true gentleman known for his kindness, generosity, and wry sense of humor, Gene actively helped his community. As a long-time member of Highland Hills Baptist Church, he faithfully served as a deacon, Sunday School teacher, and much more. Gene was a member of the Macon Exchange Club, the Macon Lions Club, the Macon Touchdown Club, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, ALDHA, the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, and the Georgia Wilderness Society, which established The Gene Espy Award.
Gene was predeceased by his parents and his brother, John Lee Espy. He is survived by his devoted wife of 71 years, Eugenia, his daughters Ellen Holliday and Jane Gilsinger (Jim), his granddaughters Courtney Holliday (Brandon Abernathy) and Amanda Gilsinger, and numerous nieces and nephews. His exemplary love of God and family guided his life. Gene will be greatly missed, but will live on in so many hearts and hikes.
The family will greet friends on Saturday, September 6, 2025, from 10-11 AM at Highland Hills Baptist Church, 1370 Briarcliff Road, Macon, Georgia. A memorial service will follow at 11 AM with a reception afterwards. Burial will be private.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Appalachian Trail Museum, the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, or Highland Hills Baptist Church.
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