Skip to main content

Appalachian Trail Museum to dedicate children’s exhibit


GARDNERS - On Saturday, June 4, which is National Trails Day, the Appalachian Trail Museum celebrates the opening of its new children's area with storytelling sessions, a nature scavenger hunt, activities related to Leave No Trace principles and a survival activity including how to build a shelter.

The museum is in the Old Grist Mill, 1120 Pine Grove Road, Gardners.

Located on state Route 233 in Pennsylvania's Pine Grove Furnace State Park, very close to the midpoint of the Appalachian Trail, the A.T. Museum tells the story of the trail. The new, lower-level children's area, aimed at young hikers, features an exhibit showing all the states the Appalachian Trail travels through with information about each state.

The day starts with a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m., followed by the Children's Festival beginning at 11 a.m.

Nan ‘Drag N’ Fly’ Reisinger, the oldest woman ever to hike the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, will make an appearance and demonstration, and Brian and Nancy Lockman and friends will provide mountain music. A bake sale, a cookout and a make-your-own-trail-mix table round out the program.

Details of the day can be found at www.atmuseum.org.

The night before the festival - on Friday, June 3 - the sixth class of Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame honorees will be inducted at the annual Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Banquet at the Allenberry Resort in Boiling Springs. The 2016 Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame class honorees are Maurice J. Forrester Jr. of Williamsport; Horace Kephart of Bryson City, North Carolina; Larry Luxenberg of New City, New York; and Henry Arch Nichols, of Ashville, North Carolina.

The inductees will be available at the Children’s Festival to speak about their adventures and work on the Appalachian Trail.

For more informatiion call 717-357-0133.