South Mountain Partnership Speakers Series: May 31 Women Who Built The Appalachian Trail

The 9th annual South Mountain Partnership Speakers Series kicks off May 31 with an exciting look at some relatively unknown historical figures who helped make the Appalachian Trail what it is today.

The program will be held at the Appalachian Trail Museum, 1120 Pine Grove Road in Gardners, Adams County starting at 6:30.

While Benton MacKaye and Myron Avery are widely recognized as the “founding fathers” of the A.T., the women who contributed to the Trail project are mostly unknown – until now.

Three women – Jean Stephenson, Ruth Blackburn and Margaret Drummond – will join the ranks of MacKaye and Avery as Appalachian Trail “giants” who carried their vision and work forward to preserve the trail we all know and love today.

Stephenson was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame in 2012, Blackburn in 2013 and Drummond in 2015.

Gwen Loose, Vice-President of the Museum, will share stories about these pioneering women and their dedication to the Appalachian Trail. The event is free and open to the public.

The South Mountain Speakers Series is an annual lecture series hosted by the South Mountain Partnership. Each event highlights a specific topic or challenge, such that over the course of the year, the Series features a diversity of topics central to the Partnership’s mission and goals of protecting and promoting landscape resources.

The Series also provides a vehicle for engaging the public in on-going, informed dialogue about conservation challenges facing the South Mountain landscape.

The South Mountain Speakers Series is presented as a revival of the Michaux Lectures, a series of talks given by Joseph Rothrock to build a groundswell of public support for his work to preserve and restore Pennsylvania’s forested landscape.

The late 19th century Michaux Lectures were an educational mission that catalyzed real change in Pennsylvania’s environmental history.

As we face the challenges of the 21st century, the South Mountain Speakers Series is intended to encourage a new generation to find in the past a positive vision for the future of the South Mountain landscape.

Click Here for the 2018 Speakers Series schedule.

For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the South Mountain Partnership Speakers Series website.

(Photos: Jean Stephenson, Ruth Blackburn and Margaret Drummond.)