Welcome back. The snow is melting (hopefully), the sun is shining (please) and the month of our opening is at hand. It has been an interesting winter, but spring is on its way and the museum is ready to get back into action.
 |
| 3/14/14 - Opening day approaches |
Quick Reminders: AT Museum Cleanup Day
March 22nd, 2014 and we will work from about 9:00 am until about 1:00 pm or so.
I think we are all set as far as cleaning supplies go. If you have a rake or broom, that can always help. We have rubber gloves, but if you want to bring work gloves, please do so. Hopefully we won't need to bring any snow shovels.
AT Museum Volunteer Orientation
March 29th, 2014 9:00 am to Noon or so, at the Ironmaster's Mansion. Current, new and prospective Docents invited.
____________________________________________
Docent Shifts Starting to Fill
It was very nice to see all of you signing up for shifts for the coming season. I hope everyone is finding the VolunteerSpot website to be comfortable to work with. It looks like our first two days in March are covered and four of the eight days in April have at least one person signed up.
If you can spare the time on a Saturday or Sunday in April, it would be great to get that month all lined up. Thanks for all who are committing their time, it is so greatly appreciated. Sign up here.
If you can spare the time on a Saturday or Sunday in April, it would be great to get that month all lined up. Thanks for all who are committing their time, it is so greatly appreciated. Sign up here.
____________________________________________
Road Scholar Hiking Guides
One of the partnerships the Museum has established is to provide hiking guides to the Road Scholar Adventures in Learning Groups. They offer lifelong learning and one of their adventures starts right here in PA.
For each of these hikes (there are eight of them from March to October) we try to provide at least two hiking guides (and we can have as many as are interested), who hike along with the group and talk about the interesting things of the trail, like the Clubs and trail maintenance, the meaning of the blazes, the interesting ruins of Camp Michaux and anything else that comes to mind.
Once the hike is finished, we open the museum to the group and let them look around some and enjoy our exhibits. It all ends up as a great day of hiking and talking about the trail we all love. If this is something you are interested in helping out with, I have set up a Road Scholar event on the VolunteerSpot Group page.
For each of these hikes (there are eight of them from March to October) we try to provide at least two hiking guides (and we can have as many as are interested), who hike along with the group and talk about the interesting things of the trail, like the Clubs and trail maintenance, the meaning of the blazes, the interesting ruins of Camp Michaux and anything else that comes to mind.
Once the hike is finished, we open the museum to the group and let them look around some and enjoy our exhibits. It all ends up as a great day of hiking and talking about the trail we all love. If this is something you are interested in helping out with, I have set up a Road Scholar event on the VolunteerSpot Group page.
____________________________________________
Ed Garvey Collection Comes to the Museum
Ed Garvey Collection Comes to the Museum
by Joe Harold
According to Larry Luxenberg, the museum has been hopefully waiting to take possession (long term loan) of the multitude of artifacts that Ed Garvey (one of our 2011 Hall of Fame inductees) for about 15 years. Last month, we received the word that we could have the items, but we would need to act fast, as the house they were stored in (one built by Ed himself) was going to undergo some extensive renovation, so the time was now to get the artifacts.
We quickly assembled an all-star crew consisting of Jim Sample, Ron Bungay, Carol Bungay, Mike Wingeart and myself to head to Falls Church and gather the items for transport to the museum.
Jim went down the day before and spent 12 hours working with Sharon Garvey to get most of the items boxed and ready to go. The rest of us came on Friday, loaded up and headed to the museum. Just as we arrived, rain started falling. We cleared the path of ice and unloaded all the trucks with 45 items. It was quite a haul and you could just smell the history wafting off the artifacts.
We quickly assembled an all-star crew consisting of Jim Sample, Ron Bungay, Carol Bungay, Mike Wingeart and myself to head to Falls Church and gather the items for transport to the museum.
 |
| L-R, Jim, Mike, Carol, Sharon and Ron |
Jim went down the day before and spent 12 hours working with Sharon Garvey to get most of the items boxed and ready to go. The rest of us came on Friday, loaded up and headed to the museum. Just as we arrived, rain started falling. We cleared the path of ice and unloaded all the trucks with 45 items. It was quite a haul and you could just smell the history wafting off the artifacts.
 |
| Carol recording our efforts |
 |
| Mike's improvised hands free rain avoidance device |
Once we got everything up into the second floor we could relax a little. After Ron and Mike did some checking of the basement in preparation of the upcoming renovation we all headed to the Holly Inn in nearby Mt Holly Springs for a nice lunch before we all dispersed to our separate homes. It was a good day for the Museum.
 |
| Everything unloaded and drying off |
____________________________________________
Help with Presentation Programs
We are still looking for a couple of people to help out with the Program Sessions on Sundays during our season (mainly from Memorial Day to Labor Day). If we can find one person to handle all the publicity and another person to handle setup & equipment at the museum (or lawn, or Ironmasters) each Sunday, Gwen will contact potential presenters to fill the calendar. Once the calendar is filled, those two people will handle the events as they come up on the calendar. I will be around to help as usual, but it would be great if we could get a couple to handle the details throughout the season.
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
A Famous Hiker Leaves Us
We have lost a historical figure of the trail recently. Bill Irwin, the blind hiker who completed the whole trail with only his dog Orient passed away after a battle with cancer. You can read more about it here. We feature two books at the museum telling the story of Bill's hike and about his companion Orient. Be sure to check them out at the museum.
______________________________________________
Things Coming Down the Trail
March 29th, 2014 - Docent Orientation (both experienced and new)
March 29th, 2014 - AT Museum opens for the season
March 31st, 2014 - Road Scholar Hike - Big Flat to Museum NOBO.
April - Start remodeling the bottom floor
April 12th, 2014 - Elizabethtown College visits Museum
April 22nd, 2014 - Earth Day Celebration, Shippensburg University
April 26th, 2014 - Earth Day Celebration, Waynesboro, PA
April 27th, 2014 - 5th Annual Ironmaster's Challenge - Sign up here.
May 5th, 2014 - Road Scholar Hike - Big Flat to Museum NOBO.
March 31st, 2014 - Road Scholar Hike - Big Flat to Museum NOBO.
April - Start remodeling the bottom floor
April 12th, 2014 - Elizabethtown College visits Museum
April 22nd, 2014 - Earth Day Celebration, Shippensburg University
April 26th, 2014 - Earth Day Celebration, Waynesboro, PA
April 27th, 2014 - 5th Annual Ironmaster's Challenge - Sign up here.
May 5th, 2014 - Road Scholar Hike - Big Flat to Museum NOBO.
