Snapshots from the Appalachian Trail and the Internatonal Appalachian Trail

• Main Author: Browne, Timothy Di Leo
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Marshall Digital Scholar 2015
• Subjects: environmental_ecological; social_conditions; Greenland; Iceland; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://mds.marshall.edu/asa_conference/2015/full/291

This paper considers the extended definition of "Appalachian" that pertains to the International Appalachian Trail, and addresses recurring geographic, cultural, and musical themes that exist in very different locations along the trail, both within and beyond the United States. The first stretch of the Appalachian Trail (AT), through Harriman State Park in New York, opened in 1923. In the following decades, the AT grew to nearly 2,200 miles, connecting Springer Mountain in Georgia with Mount Katahdin in Maine. But the Appalachians continue on through Maine into the Canadian provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Furthermore, geological evidence indicates that mountainous areas in Greenland, Iceland, coastal Western Europe, and Morocco resulted from the same mountain-building uplift — the Appalachian-Caledonian Orogen — that created the North American Appalachians. To encourage trans-border recreation and cooperation, officials and hiking enthusiasts from Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec conceived the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) in 1994. Many segments of the extended trail have now been completed, starting with the section leading north from Mount Katahdin. I will compare five different locations along or near the AT and the IAT with respect to their geology, cultural anthropology, and music. The presentation will include pictures and maps as well as short music videos. I hope to demonstrate that themes of cultural marginalization and distinctiveness surface repeatedly in the disparate locations, linking them in ways that go beyond the trail itself. I will also discuss the common origins of some of the shared cultural features.