The Green Tunnel

Today's episode is bittersweet because we have reached the end of our hike. After three years and 50 episodes, we are wrapping up The Green Tunnel with something a little different. Every episode of The Green Tunnel has focused on some aspect of the history of the Appalachian Trail, but today we're looking forward. What will the AT's future look like? How will the trail evolve? What will the greatest challenges be for the trail we all love? 

On today's episode of The Green Tunnel, we are exploring a central reason why hikers head to the Appalachian Trail in the first place, to see wildlife. We'll also talk about how the animals along the trail are changing the way hikers experience the AT and the ecology of the mountains the AT passes through.

What long-distance AT hiker hasn't dreamed of reaching that sign on the summit of Katahdin at the end of their hike? Today, we are headed to the top of the mountain to explore the history of the iconic sign. 

The Appalachian Trail winds its way through Appalachia which is a place where people make sense of their world through stories. Stories of their lives in the mountains. Stories of the land and its riches. Stories, both fiction and non-fiction, about their journeys. In this episode of The Green Tunnel, we are exploring the history of writing about the Appalachian Trail. 

Did you know a significant number of hikers confess their sins in the logbook in the shelter on Priest Mountain? Why do they do this and what do they confess? Find out on today's Iconic Locations episode. 

Benton MacKaye wanted to be sure that anyone who chose to spend a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks on the trail would have the opportunity to really get away from civilization. However, most of the lands MacKaye hoped to route his future trail through were in private hands, owned either by individuals or corporations. If an Appalachian Trail was really going to be built, then its leaders would have to find a way to reconcile their desire to build a trail with the rights of private landowners.

The Delaware Water Gap is one of the most breathtaking spots along the entire Appalachian Trail and has been a favorite subject of landscape painters since at least the middle of the 19th century. It's an important marker for northbound hikers, but it's also a torturous landscape that many hikers call "Rocksylvania." 

There is no better way to turn a good hike into a bad hike than taking a wrong turn and hiking miles out of your way. Especially if that means you climbed an extra mountain or two. Today, we are exploring the history of blazing, signing, and mapping the trail from Georgia to Maine.

Bear Mountain Bridge sits just north of the oldest section of the entire Appalachian Trail and on today's Iconic Location episode we are what was once the world's longest suspension bridge. 

Today we're going back to the earliest days of the Appalachian Trail to learn more about the critical role that the Civilian Conservation Corps played in making the trail a reality. 

Have you ever wondered who Charlies Bunion was named after or why there are two balds with the same name? On today's Iconic Location episode, we are exploring the mystery of Charlies Bunion.    

The American Chestnut was one of the most magnificent trees in North America. On today's episode of The Green Tunnel, we're going to explore how it lived, how it died, and how – with the help of scientists, non-profit organizations, and passionate volunteers – it just might repopulate the Appalachian Mountains once again.

While no one has ever seen a dragon along the Appalachian Trail, hundreds of thousands of hikers have seen a dragon's tooth. Viewed from a distance this geological formation looks like one very large, very snaggly fang sticking up out of Cove Mountain.

This season the history we're starting with is really, really old. We are exploring the geological history of the rocks and mountains the Appalachian Trail runs through. We will also answer the age-old question, are the mountains actually getting taller?

On Tuesday, October 17th, The Green Tunnel will be back with Season Three! This season we're exploring the natural history of the Appalachian Trail. We'll dig deep into the trail's geological past, climb chestnut trees, follow some critters down unexpected paths, and consider the history of the trail's future. We'll also highlight iconic locations across the trail, from the Priest Shelter in Virginia to the Kennebec River Ferry in Maine. We've interviewed historians and scientists, hikers and authors, trail maintainers and mapmakers, to bring you new stories about the history and culture of the Appalachian Trail. For more information or to catch up on previous episodes, visit our website, R2Studios.org. 

Planning section hikes can take a lot of work. Luckily, every section hiker out there has a go-to podcast to help with that planning. Julie Gayheart hosts the “Jester” Section Hiker podcast and there is no better resource for anyone interested in section hiking the Appalachian Trail. Today, Julie walks us through what it takes to hike the Connecticut section of the trail. 

Today we're headed to Florida. While the AT doesn't run through Florida, the state has a lot of great trails, including the Florida Trail. And one of the best ways for you to learn about the FT is by listening to Orange Blaze. This podcast highlights the experience of hikers along the Florida Trail and is hosted by Misti ‘Ridley' Little. 

When the Appalachian Trail project began, volunteer clubs up and down the length of the trail committed themselves to first scouting, then building, and then maintaining the trail. In the last episode of season two, we are digging into the critical role women played in the early years of the AT. They played such a big role, some trail clubs limited the number of women allowed to join. 

Today, we're hiking on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, to the site of Fontana Dam. It's the tallest dam east of the Rocky Mountains. Constructed in the 1940s, the dam and its resulting reservoir flooded four towns and affected the daily lives and memories of many people. So, why was the dam built and what lies beneath the cool blue waters of Fontana Lake? Further Reading: “Fontana Dam, N.C.,” Appalachian Trail Conservancy “The History of Fontana Village,” Fontana Village Resort and Marina. “Interview with Commodore A. Casada, 11 November 2009,” interview by Rhydon T. Atzenhoffer, Oral Histories of Western North Carolina, Southern Appalachian Digital Collections. Archival Photographs of Fontana Village and Fontana Lake, Southern Appalachian Digital Collections. “Fontana,” Tennessee Valley Authority. “Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933),” National Archives and Records Administration. Pete Seeger, "The TVA Song," Gazette, Vol. 1 (1958) Smithsonian Folkways Recordings https://folkways.si.edu/pete-seeger/gazette-vol-1/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian. 

The Appalachian Trail is a much more diverse place in 2023 than it was as recently as 20 years ago. But if you spend much time on the trail, you know it's still a pretty white place. There are many stories about the challenges faced by members of marginalized communities who hike the AT, and we need a lot more research to better understand how the history of the trail and the history of race are closely interwoven.  On today's episode, attorney Krystal Williams of Maine and historian Phoebe Young of the University of Colorado-Boulder help us explore specifically how the history of the AT crosses paths with African American history, in ways you might not expect.  Further Reading:  Mills Kelly, “The A.T. and Race” AT Journeys, February 2021: https://appalachiantrail.org/official-blog/the-a-t-and-race/. Megan Rosenbloom, Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin (New York: MacMillian, 2020). Noelle Smith, “How Perceived Racial Differences Created a Crisis in Black Women's Healthcare,” Nursing Clio, March 31, 2020, https://nursingclio.org/2020/03/31/how-perceived-racial-differences-created-a-crisis-in-black-womens-healthcare/  Harriet Washington, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Random House, 2008). Phoebe S. K. Young, Camping Grounds: Public Nature in American Life from the Civil War to the Occupy Movement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021).

Long before Harpers Ferry, Virginia became the emotional halfway point for Appalachian Trail thru hikers, it was the site of one of the most important events in 19th century American history.  In the fall of 1859, the abolitionist John Brown and 22 of his compatriots attacked the federal arsenal there, hoping to spark an insurrection against slavery in the American South on the eve of the Civil War. On today's episode, historian Jonathan Earle of Louisiana State University explores Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry and the landscape hikers now pass through today. Further Reading: AT hiker photographs: [https://athikerpictures.org/] Jonathan Earle, John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry: A Brief History with Documents (2008). Harpers Ferry Stories from the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/stories.htm Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia: An Annotated Edition, ed. Robert Pierce Forbes (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2022), 36-38.  Pete Seeger, America's Favorite Ballads, Vol. 3, Folkways Records, 1959, vinyl. https://folkways.si.edu/pete-seeger/american-favorite-ballads-vol-3/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian. Harpers Ferry Stories from the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/stories.htm.              

Throughout its history, the Appalachian Trail has been a place many hikers go for peace, for inspiration, for community, for physical challenge, and in some cases, as a sort of personal spiritual journey. In our show today, we're taking a close look at the history of these inner motivations to hike.

Have you ever wondered where the center point of the Appalachian Trail is? If you guessed Center Point Knob, Pennsylvania you would be wrong. But it was the location of an infamous crime. Well sort of. 

On this special episode of The Green Tunnel, Dakota Jackson, Director of Visitor Experience at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, talks with Mills Kelly about his new book, Virginia's Lost Appalachian Trail. Dakota and Mills explore the process of digging up the story of Virginia's Lost AT in the archives, and in the memories of the people who remember it. We hope you enjoy this deeper dive into the history of the old section of the trail, and learn a little about how historians recover and interpret the past. Don't forget to listen to "The Lost AT." https://www.r2studios.org/show/the-green-tunnel/the-lost-at/ Purchase your own copy of Mills Kelly's book. https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467153393  

Today, we're going to tell you a story from the earliest days of the Appalachian Trail, a time when trail scouts were still trying to find a complete route north or south through what was sometimes unmapped wilderness. It's a story about a 300-mile-long section of the Appalachian Trail you almost certainly have never heard of.    

Today we're exploring one of the more famous trail towns along the Appalachian Trail, Damascus, Virginia. 

Hikers don't often realize they're passing through the traditional homelands of many Indigenous nations. In today's episode, we're focusing on some of the Indigenous lands the Appalachian Trail runs through as a way of helping to recover at least some of the Indigenous history along the trail's route.

Today, we explore one of the most infamous sections of the Appalachian Trail. Get ready for the ups and downs of Northern Virginia's Roller Coaster.

Today, we're going to be talking about something everybody does, but not everybody's comfortable discussing. There's no nice way to say this, other than to just get right to it. Today's episode is about pooping along the Appalachian Trail.  And yes, even that has a history.

The AT originally ran right through Monson, Maine, fueling its economy, but when the trail was moved and things threatened to change, the community established itself as a hiker haven. 

Today we're going to tell you the story of the people who lived in the Shenandoah mountains traversed by the Appalachian Trail before Shenandoah National Park. 

Today we're taking you to the highest peak in Massachusetts, Mount Greylock which despite being very far from an ocean has an iconic lighthouse. 

Regardless of their background, their age, or how long they plan to be on the trail, gear is one topic that every hiker has in common with every other hiker. But the gear you see on the Appalachian Trail today is radically different from what hikers carried in the 1930s, the 1950s, or even the 1970s. 

In season two of The Green Tunnel, we have some fantastic new stories for you on the history of the Appalachian Trail. We've interviewed hikers in the wild, people who take care of the trail, historians, authors, and many others to bring you some new perspectives on America's oldest and most iconic long-distance hiking trail. 

This episode of The Green Tunnel focuses on the rich culture surrounding places to eat along the Appalachian Trail and their connection to the economy within trail towns. It also contains some pretty good restaurant suggestions!

In this special bonus episode of The Green Tunnel podcast, we sat down with The Green Tunnel's own musicians to hear from them about their connections to the traditions and music of the Appalachian mountains.

In this episode of The Green Tunnel, we present an episode of the Virginia Outdoor Adventures podcast hosted by Jessica Bowser. To learn more about this great show and for the latest episode, visit virginiaoutdooradventures.com. Often referred to as “one of the most spectacular hikes in the US,” McAfee Knob attracts hikers from across the world and is one of the most photographed spots on the entire Appalachian Trail. Former Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club President, Diana Christopulos, shares everything you need to know before hitting the trail in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, including where to gear up, what to do while you're in town, and where to find the best local brew at the end of the day.

In 1930 Eiler Larsen set out on what is the first recorded attempt of what we call an Appalachian Trail thru-hike. He didn't make it in one year. He got a little distracted. In the final episode of our first season, we're going to tell Larsen's story: how he was drawn to the AT, his message of happiness, and how he ended up being the official Greeter of Laguna Beach, California (which by the way, is approximately one Appalachian Trail away from Springer Mountain in Georgia).This episode was produced by Mills Kelly. The executive producer is Abby Mullen. Editing by Jeanette Patrick. Show notes are available at greentunnel.rrchnm.org.

The original southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail was at the summit of Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia. But that changed in 1958 when the Appalachian Trail Conservancy agreed to move the terminus to Springer Mountain because of...(wait for it)...chickens. Really. Chickens.The Green Tunnel is a production of R2 Studios at George Mason University. It is hosted by Mills Kelly. This episode was edited by Jeanette Patrick.

When you are hiking on the Appalachian Trail and it starts raining, it's nice to know that somewhere up ahead there is a cozy shelter you can duck into. Luckily, there are more than 250 trailside shelters on the AT. Some of them almost 100 years old, and have just as much history as the trail itself. This episode examines the history of those shelters and the hiker hostels along the trail that have become much more than just cover from the rain. They've become a place for community along the trail.This episode was produced by Hayley Madl. It's hosted by Mills Kelly. Show notes available at greentunnel.rrchnm.org.

Today's Iconic Location takes us up north to the Presidentials in New Hampshire, to the summit of Mount Washington. Known for the most terrible weather in the United States, hikers and cars alike make the trek to be able to say "I climbed Mount Washington," but what is its history on the Appalachian Trail? Listen to find out.Show notes, including a full transcript, available at greentunnel.rrchnm.org.

Are hikers loving the Appalachian Trail to death? In this episode of The Green Tunnel, we examine the history of hiker trash - as in actual trash - on the trail. We'll look at a moment when the trashing of the trail got so bad that the trail clubs almost did something radical, something that would have changed the hiker experience forever. And we examine the many ways that community organizations have tackled the persistent problems of overuse, vandalism, and litter on the trail.The Green Tunnel is a production of R2 Studios at George Mason University. It's hosted by Mills Kelly. This episode was produced by Eleanor Magness.Show notes, including a full transcript, are available at greentunnel.rrchnm.org.

This iconic location on the Appalachian Trail is the very first monument in the country to George Washington. It also made a cameo in the Civil War, and now it makes a great place for birdwatching. Learn more about Maryland's Washington Monument in today's episode!The Green Tunnel is a podcast of R2 Studios at George Mason University. It's hosted by Mills Kelly and produced by Abby Mullen. Show notes, including a full transcript, at greentunnel.rrchnm.org.

Trail food: it's kind of weird. Think about it. When else do you eat freeze-dried lasagna? Or several protein bars…in one day? Probably not often. How did trail food become what it is now? And what did hikers do before the wonders of backpacker meals? In this episode of The Green Tunnel, we look back at 100 years of trail food history to understand what hikers ate then and the changes that impacted the food hikers took out on trail over time.The Green Tunnel is a production of R2 Studios at George Mason University. It's hosted by Mills Kelly. To learn more about the show, go to greentunnel.rrchnm.org. You can also support the show by becoming a member; information about membership is available at greentunnel.rrchnm.org or r2studios.org.

Bears, lightning, and Lyme...oh my! Natural danger on the Appalachian Trail is a real concern for hikers, but how much should hikers really be concerned about snakes, bears, lightning strikes, and ticks? In this episode of the Green Tunnel Podcast, we'll hear from several experts about how hikers approached these dangers in the past, and what they recommend for hikers today.Show notes at greentunnel.rrchnm.org/episode-4-danger, including full transcript, guest bios, and more resources. Support the work of The Green Tunnel and R2 Studios by becoming a member. Find out how at https://r2studios.org/support-us/.

In this Iconic Location episode, we've got a tight squeeze for you: the Lemon Squeezer. Learn about this claustrophia-inducing spot in the oldest section of the AT.Show notes at greentunnel.rrchnm.org. The Green Tunnel is a production of R2 Studios (r2studios.org). Support us by becoming a member!

This episode of The Green Tunnel shares the story of three changemakers who combined led, and continue to lead, the trail through its 100 years of history. From the earliest days with Jean Stephenson, legal battles with Ruth Blackburn, to a new future with Sandi Marra, these leaders of the Appalachian Trail project have proven themselves pivotal in its history.Show notes, including a full transcript, available at greentunnel.rrchnm.org.

Introducing Iconic Locations, a bonus series of short segments featuring iconic locations of the Appalachian Trail that will air in between regular Green Tunnel episodes. To kick things off, we're starting with what is probably the most photographed location along the trail: McAfee Knob. And we'll tell the story of the nine years when the AT was kicked off the Knob.

In this episode of The Green Tunnel we tell the story of the settler communities that existed along the route of the Appalachian Trail before the AT arrived. We've chosen three examples of those communities, each of which helps tell the story of life in the Appalachian mountains before Benton MacKaye dreamed up the AT in 1921. One community was home to people recently emancipated from enslavement, another was a thriving coal mining and railroad town until the mines played out, and the people of the third community had to rally their friends and neighbors to try to find a little boy who had wandered away from his schoolhouse in 1891. What was life like in the Appalachian mountains before the trail? Find show notes, including a full transcript, at https://greentunnel.rrchnm.org/episode-2-what-came-before/.

Benton MacKaye dreamed up the Appalachian Trail, and Myron Avery turned that dream into a 2,000-mile trail. Their competing visions of what kind of trail the AT should be continue to be at the heart of discussions about the trail today. Should it be a true wilderness experience? Or should it be easily accessible to as many people as possible? In this episode, we tell the story of MacKaye's and Avery's roles in making the trail what it is today, and why their differing visions for the trail permanently fractured their relationship.Full transcript and show notes available at greentunnel.rrchnm.org.

Welcome to The Green Tunnel, a podcast about the history of the Appalachian Trail. From R2 Studios, a division of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, we're bringing you the history of the most iconic long-distance hiking trail in the United States. Listen now and follow us wherever you get your podcasts!