Earl Shaffer and the Appalachian Trail Opens at the Smithsonian
Washington, D.C. (June 10, 2009)—“Earl Shaffer and the Appalachian Trail,” celebrating the early years of the Appalachian Trail project and Shaffer’s historic 1948 thru-hike, opens today in the Albert Small Documents Room of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
The exhibit, which will remain in place through October 11, follows displays in the same space this year of Abraham Lincoln and Duke Ellington artifacts. Walking with Spring, Shaffer’s lyrical account of his first Appalachian Trail hike, is a major focus of the exhibit, along with other papers and artifacts Shaffer donated to the Smithsonian after his 1998, “50th anniversary” thru-hike at age 79, three years before his death. (He also hiked end-to-end southbound in 1965.)
Maps and other objects from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy adorn the walls, and that book and related products will be on sale at the museum gift shops. An Internet connection will take visitors to interactive exhibits as well.
The Earl Shaffer Foundation, operated by his family and friends, retains other Shaffer papers and artifacts.
Shaffer’s “lofty achievement has inspired tens of thousands and even today, on a better path, a thru-hike is a noteworthy feat…,” notes ATC Executive Director Dave Startzell. “It is perhaps only within the Appalachian Trail management community that he is remembered as a different sort of role model: He hiked the whole trail and then spent a lifetime giving back to it as a volunteer: building shelters, maintaining trail sections, helping other hikers, and favoring thousands of us with his gifts as a master storyteller. A quiet man of modest means and lifestyle, his passion for the trail and its hikers was rock-solid.”
Further information about the exhibit can be found here.
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