On June 5, the Appalachian Trail Museum held its grand opening ceremony at Pine Grove Furnace State Park, near the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail.
Several hundred people attended the dedication ceremony, which featured speeches by museum president Larry Luxenberg, who has been working to make his dream a reality for 12 years; state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources director John Quigley; several relatives of the first pioneers to hike the whole trail; and other officials.
The “ribbon” for the official ribbon cutting was a piece of duct tape, a material used to repair everything from tents to hiking boots along the trail. Cutting the duct tape was 13-year-old Benton MacKaye Schwartz of Moore Twp. in Northampton County, whose parents met on the trail and named their oldest son after the man who first proposed the path in 1921.
About 100 visitors from 11 different states participated in the "Hike to History," a six-mile hike to the ceremony from the Kings Gap Environmental Education Center.
Many of the speakers praised the volunteers who maintain the trail and created the museum. A consultant had estimated the cost of building the museum at $525,000, they said. Volunteers brought the cost down to $50,000.
The Appalachian Trail Museum, housed in an old gristmill at Pine Grove Furnace State Park, will be open from noon to 4:00 PM daily through Labor Day, then open weekends through October. Admission is free.
To learn more, visit
www.atmuseum.org.