Blue Ridge Center: Historical & Cultural Stewardship

Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship

	Our Land
	Scientific & Natural Stewardship
	Historical & Cultural Stewardship
	Archelology
	Historical Structures
	Farming and Forestry
	Civil War
	Appalachian Trail

Historical & Cultural Stewardship

APPALACHIAN TRAIL
The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) is a monument to the 20th century efforts of "tramping clubs" and trail groups to preserve irreplaceable natural resources in the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail corridor abuts the Foundation property on the west side.

The 900 acre Foundation property was originally purchased by the Robert and Dee Leggett Foundation as part of a conservation buyers program of the Appalachian Trail Conference. Through this program, individual buyers acquire property adjacent to the Trail and work with ATC to place it under conservation easements.

The A.T. is a footpath running for 2,100 continuous miles between Springer Mountain, Georgia, and Katahdin, Maine. The trail was proposed in 1921 by Benton MacKaye, who envisioned it as a place for recreational and spiritual rebirth for urban Americans, and as a green "dike" to hold back the flood of urbanization. Starting in 1925, the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conference (headquartered in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.) coordinated the Trail's construction. Today, ATC serves as a federation of its 31 trail-maintaining clubs with a volunteer cadre of more than 4,000 women and men. The A.T. lands abutting the Foundation's property are managed and maintained by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC).

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