The Green Tunnel R2 Studios

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.