The Appalachian Trail in and of itself is historical. In fact, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. But did you know that strewn all along the trail are historical sites, some that were home to events that changed the course of this nation’s history? This article delves into eight of these sites and their captivating stories.
Fontana Dam
NOBO mile: 166.6
Fontana Dam is well recognized on the trail for a couple of reasons: first, it marks the entrance to (or for SOBOs, exit from) the Smokies — and it’s a grand entrance at that, with towering walls and beautiful views through the valley. Secondly, the nearby “Fontana Hilton” shelter boasts luxuries that very few other shelters do, such as hot showers and a solar charging station.
But did you know that the dam also helped seal an Allied victory during World War II?
World War II
Construction on the dam began just three weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Military strategists had been preparing for a possible US entry to the war and had been eyeing the Tennessee Valley as a place to concentrate war efforts. However, these new facilities would require a gargantuan amount of power, more than what could be provided with existing resources.
In stepped the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), an agency born of FDR’s New Deal that aimed to boost the Depression-era economy with hydroelectric power. The TVA had been eyeing the Fontana site for a while as an ideal dam location, but a land agreement with the company who owned the property had been slow to come about until the war broke out and dramatically increased the project’s urgency.
The dam, which would be the tallest dam east of the Rockies, was completed in record time, thanks to the relentless effort of workers laboring around the clock and taking on 7-day work weeks. Laborers broke a national record of most concrete laid in 24 hours: 11,419 cubic yards, which the TVA website says is the equivalent of 2,306,341 gallons of milk.
The generator fired up in early 1945, just in time to help speed up the end of the war, as most of the energy it generated went to aluminum factories producing metal for military aircraft.
Modern Day
The TVA is still very much active today, providing power for thousands of people in the Tennessee Valley. In fact, it’s responsible for the hot showers at the Fontana Hilton! A seasonal TVA visitor’s center right next to the dam provides much more information and history – if you’re there from April to October, I highly recommend checking it out.
Sources:
Cloudland Hotel on Roan High Knob
NOBO mile: 387.7
Roan High Knob is another well-known spot along the AT, primarily for being home to the highest shelter on the entire trail.
Fire Lookout
The shelter itself is historical: it originally served as lodging for fire wardens keeping watch at the nearby fire tower. Though the fire tower is long-gone — apparently the location suffered from low visibility due to cloud cover — you can still find its concrete bases near the shelter.
Do some more exploring and you’ll find that the Roan High Knob Shelter wasn’t the only lodging to exist on the mountain.
Cloudland Hotel
In the early-to-mid 1870s, US General and area businessman John T. Wilder built a summer cottage on top of Roan for personal use. That cottage became so popular among friends and family that he opened it up to paying customers in 1877.
Wilder, ever the opportunist, added a rustic spruce lodge in 1878, which was soon enlarged to meet demand, and ultimately the luxurious Cloudland Hotel in 1885. The resort was marketed heavily towards those who suffered hay fever but was also frequented by naturalists and botanists and even played host to such famous guests as John Muir.
In it heyday, Cloudland boasted tennis courts, a bowling alley, a ballroom, and views of hundreds of mountain peaks in five states. The hotel itself straddled two states, North Carolina and Tennessee. Accounts tell of a line painted on the dining room floor to mark the border, as alcohol was allowed in Tennessee but not North Carolina!
Ultimately, Wilder lost interest in the enterprise and turned his attention to other ventures, and by 1915 the hotel had fallen into a state of neglect and dilapidation. After he died in 1917, the estate was picked apart and sold in pieces.
Modern Day
Today all that’s left are a few small ruins and an informational sign, though the trail follows one of the old carriage roads to reach the hotel for a short while. The site can also be reached from the Roan High Bluff Trailhead.
Sources:
https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2118&context=etd
https://willhiteweb.com/appalachian_trail/fire_lookouts/roan_high_knob/tower_022.htm
Audie Murphy Memorial
NOBO mile: 693.2
Audie Murphy was the stuff of legends. He was a movie star, an author, and an early advocate for veterans’ mental health, but all of that pales in comparison to being the most highly decorated solider in US history.
The Navy, Marine Corps, and Army had all previously rejected him for his age and small stature, but in 1942, at 17 years old, he altered his birth certificate so that he could join the Army a year early. He soon proved himself to be an excellent marksman and soldier, taking out 241 enemy soldiers over the course of the war.
Time and time again the gritty, courageous Murphy kept returning to battle, despite injury and illness, including malaria. He received three Purple Hearts.
He frequently charged into combat regardless of whether or not anyone was there to follow him into battle. One such time, two Germans exited a house and pretended to surrender, but instead killed Audie’s best friend. Murphy responded by advancing alone on the house under direct fire and killing two, wounding six, and taking eleven prisoners.
Colmar Pocket
His most famous moment, however, happened in the battle for the Colmar Pocket in France. Things weren’t going well for the Allies, so 20-year-old Murphy, who was commander of his company, ordered his men to withdraw and regroup. Murphy then mounted a burning tank destroyer and proceeded to single-handedly hold off an entire German company for the next hour using the destroyer’s machine gun.
He remained at his position despite sustaining a leg injury, knowing full well the destroyer could blow at any minute, and only fell back to his men once he ran out of ammunition. He then led his company in a successful counterattack against the Germans.
After the War
For his heroic actions, Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration. Audie was eventually awarded every available U.S. military combat award for valor from the Army, as well as awards from France and Belgium.
After the war, Murphy pursued a career in Hollywood and acted in over 40 films. In his most famous role, he played himself in the film adaptation of his own book To Hell and Back. It allegedly became Universal Studios’ biggest hit in history at the time. He also became an early advocate for increased government research on PTSD after suffering from it himself.
Plane Crash
Murphy’s connection to the Appalachian Trail is an unfortunate one: on May 28, 1971, his life was cut short when the small private plane he was a passenger in crashed into Brush Mountain, which the trail climbs.
He was buried in Arlington Cemetery — his grave remains the second most-visited memorial there, JFK being the first — and a monument was soon erected just off the AT. I highly recommend going and paying respects to this courageous man.
Sources:
United States National Armory at Harpers Ferry
NOBO mile: 1026.6
The layers of history here at the site of the armory run deep. After the Revolutionary War, George Washington himself selected Harpers Ferry as one of two sites for future national armories.
Built in 1799, it soon provided the Lewis and Clark expedition with the arms that enabled the explorers to feed themselves over the 28-month journey and return home safely.
The National Armory is most famous, however, for being the site of John Brown’s raid, which, though unsuccessful, still arguably sealed the nation’s path towards Civil War.
John Brown’s Raid
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown launched his would-be war against slavery. The intent was to incite enslaved people in Virginia to rebel and join an army that would in turn liberate other enslaved people all across the south and guide them to freedom via the Appalachian Mountain range.
In order to accomplish this, however, Brown would first need weapons. On October 16, Brown and his men moved in the cover of darkness and successfully captured the armory, freed slaves at a nearby plantation, took control of the two bridges that provided access to the town, and took hostage several armory workers.
The expected throng of rebelling enslaved people never arrived, however, and several blunders meant that word of Brown’s raid got out far sooner than intended. These failures culminated in a shootout between Brown’s men, who were holed up with the hostages in the armory fire engine house, and the local militia, who were later relieved by a group of Marines led by Robert E. Lee.
Within three minutes of the Marines’ assault on the firehouse, Brown and his four remaining men had been captured and the hostages freed.
The Civil War
Public opinion in the north originally held Brown as a madman. However, reports of his statements after the raid and during his trial, aided by the rather newly invented telegraph, soon had many viewing him as a hero. This, of course, only deepened the wedge separating the North and South and almost undoubtedly hastened the coming of the Civil War, which erupted less than three years later.
The armory also played a vital role during the Civil War, as it is located very close to the Mason-Dixon line. Almost impossible to defend because of the cliffs surrounding it, the armory and the town changed hands at least 11 times over the course of the war.
Modern Day
Today the only remaining structure from the armory is the firehouse that John Brown used as headquarters, which came to be known as “John Brown’s Fort.” The building itself was put on display at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and then shuttled to three different locations around Harpers Ferry.
The fort currently rests right by the AT, 150 feet from its original location. I highly recommend setting aside some time to explore Harpers Ferry and its many interesting exhibits when you hike through.
Sources:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/purged-away-blood
https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/meriweather-lewis-at-harpers-ferry.htm
https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/john-brown-fort.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Ferry_Armory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry
South Mountain, Maryland
NOBO mile: 1036.5-1046.1
South Mountain, which is composed of a series of ridges rather than a singular peak, practically merits its own article due to the number of historical sites it’s home to, but I’ll do my best to condense.
Washington Monument
Firstly, South Mountain is home to the very first Washington Monument in the country (not pictured). While Congress gave the green light to create a D.C.-based monument just days after George Washington died in 1799, the project stalled, and by 1827 there were still few to no signs of progress.
That’s when residents of Boonsboro, MD, decided to take matters into their own hands and build their own monument to the first U.S. president. It took less than 24 hours to construct — a stark contrast to the 40 years that the D.C. monument took — and was finished just in time to celebrate the 4th of July. Today the monument can be found just off the trail in Washington Monument State Park at mile 1046.
The Battle of South Mountain
This location was also the site of the Battle of South Mountain, which, while not as well known as other Civil War battles like Gettysburg or Antietam, still played a defining role in the war. In September of 1862, the Union Army was not doing so hot, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee was poised to take advantage of that fact.
He planned to invade the North for the first time, hoping that a battle won on Northern soil would lead Europe to recognize the Confederacy as its own sovereign country and possibly even persuade Lincoln to settle for peace. He split his army into three divisions and began the invasion.
In a wild turn of events, however, the Union army stumbled upon a mislaid copy of Lee’s battle plans and was tipped off to the fact that the Confederate forces were divided and therefore more vulnerable. General George B. McClellan sent Union forces towards South Mountain, and the two armies clashed at three different gaps there (all of which the AT passes through).
Union forces took control of Crampton’s Gap, and though Confederates held control of the other two, they were outnumbered. Lee ordered them to withdraw, resulting in a Union victory but allowing the Confederate Army to reunite.
The battle was soon overshadowed by the Battle of Antietam just three days later, which is known as the single deadliest one-day battle in American history, but South Mountain still played a large role in history. Had the Yankees not stumbled upon the Rebels’ battle plans, the war could have taken a very different turn. Monuments and interpretive signs for the battle can be found in several places along the trail.
Home of George Alfred Townsend
Finally, South Mountain is known as the home to journalist George Alfred Townsend, also known by his pen name, GATH. Townsend was a war correspondent during the Civil War but became famous for his extensive coverage of the Lincoln assassination.
While traveling for research on a novel he was working on in 1884, GATH stumbled upon South Mountain, specifically Crampton’s Gap, and fell in love with the land. He purchased 100 acres, named it Gapland, and built his summer estate there.
One of the more interesting structures on the property is the War Correspondents Memorial Arch, pictured above. The profession of war correspondence came of age in America during the Civil War: both civilians and soldiers in the North and South were desperate for any news they could get their hands on and depended on reporters, photographers and artisans to provide this information.
Townsend designed, built, and dedicated the arch to those who gave their lives to deliver coverage of the war. The monument and GATH’s estate can be found right off the trail in Gathland State Park at mile 1036.5.
Sources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-little-known-story-of-the-first-washington-monument-180981268/
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/south-mountain
https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/western/Gathland/History-Gathland.aspx
Camp Michaux
NOBO mile: 1102.9
Pine Grove Furnace State Park is an awesome place for history buffs and AT enthusiasts. In addition to the location’s iron mining history, the park is also home to the Appalachian Trail Museum and the long-running thru-hiker tradition of the half-gallon challenge. Go about three miles south, however, and you’ll find a lesser-known historical site that I found nearly as interesting.
Camp Michaux, as it was last known, embodied three wildly different meanings of the word “camp” over its 40-year career. First it was a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, then a secret prisoner of war interrogation camp, and finally a church camp. To fully understand its history, however, it’s important to go further back in time.
S-51
Predating the camp was a farm known as Bunker Hill, bought by the South Mountain Mining Company to help feed its workers. The mining industry failed in the late 19th century, and the State of Pennsylvania purchased the company’s farm and acreage, leaving it largely vacant until the Great Depression hit.
Unemployed men across the country were put to work via the Civilian Conservation Corps under FDR’s New Deal, and Pennsylvania was no exception. Bunker Hill Farm was one of two initial sites in Pennsylvania to house a CCC camp — S-51 — with the intention of the men rehabilitating the land, since iron mining was a rather environmentally taxing industry.
Much of the men’s initial effort was directed towards building the camp itself. Once it was established, corps workers turned toward their original mission of ecological restoration.
The iron industry’s need for wood to create charcoal had meant that much of the land had been stripped of trees, so reforestation was a large focus. The men also built local roads and structures in Pine Grove Furnace State Park, installed telephone lines, and continued to make improvements to the camp.
By the end of its nine-year run, S-51 had over 40 buildings and a fully operational sewage/water system and electricity.
POW Camp
By 1942, the nation was in the throes of war, and the CCC was no longer needed as men were sent off to fight. A new use for S-51 quickly arose, however. It became a secret prisoner of war interrogation camp. Interrogation facilities had been established at two other locations in the country but were quickly overwhelmed.
The former CCC camp turned out to be an ideal location due to its proximity to Washington D.C. and its secluded nature. The former Forestry Office was converted into an interrogation hall, fencing went up, guard towers were built, and prison compounds were created.
Over the course of the war, 7500 German soldiers were interrogated at the POW camp, including the inventor of the German Buzz Bomb. Most didn’t stay more than a few weeks — after interrogation they would typically be transferred to other POW facilities — but some were held longer to help man the mess hall and stables.
Toward the end of the war, some Japanese POWs were interned at the camp in a separate compound, but the war ended before more extensive interrogation efforts began.
Despite the camp’s wartime directive, it seems that it was a largely peaceful place; no escapes were reported, and many of the prisoners allegedly seemed relieved to be removed from the fighting. When not working, the camp’s many talented artists had the chance to practice painting and drawing and seemingly even had access to woodworking tools.
Church Camp
After the war ended in 1945, a third use soon arose for the land: a church camp. In 1947, members of the United Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ joined forces and worked out a lease for the camp with the state.
In the agreement, the church assumed responsibility for maintaining the structures and was allowed to rent out the facilities to other groups. A swimming pool and other facilities were soon added, and campers were hosted at the site for over two decades.
In 1969, however, Michaux Lodge (formerly the Forestry Office/Interrogation Hall) burned due to a furnace malfunction. Neither the state nor the church was willing to put the money forward to rebuild it; however, the Lodge had been one of the few winterized facilities on the property, and without it, the church was losing rental customers.
The church ultimately abandoned the lease in 1972, and the state was unable to find another use for the property, so the buildings were auctioned off and removed in 1975.
Modern Day
Today all that remains are the building foundations and a few other structures built by the camp’s various occupants, though there is a detailed self-guided tour available of the property. Of all the sites in this article, this is the furthest off of the AT, but still easily accessed. Just head south on Michaux Rd for about a tenth of a mile, and you should see signs and ruins.
Sources:
https://www.historicalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CampMichauxInteriorWeb.pdf
https://www.schaeffersite.com/michaux/history-dave-smith.htm
https://gardnerlibrary.org/journal/first-sergeants-memories-camp-michaux-lost-collection-pine-grove-furnace-prisoner-war-camp
Shay’s Rebellion Battlefield
NOBO mile: 1526.2
Let me set the scene: the Revolutionary War has just ended, and while the Patriots were victorious against Britain, they have a long, uncertain road ahead of them to establish a country. The Articles of Confederation have been established for a few years now, but they only provide for the creation of Congress — no presidency, no judiciary, and no executive agencies.
The nation and its people are heavily in debt from the war, resulting in higher tax rates and a push from merchants to customers to pay up on outstanding debts. Farmers are among some of the hardest hit, as many of them were poor to begin with and had given up their livelihoods to fight in the war. Rubbing salt in the wound, many of them still haven’t been paid for their service or have been paid in virtually worthless currency.
And now the tax and debt collectors are knocking on the door.
Shay’s Rebellion
By 1787, discontented rumblings had begun brewing nationwide, but most strongly in Massachusetts. These grumbles soon grew into protests aimed at shutting down the courts. Massachusetts farmer and former Revolutionary War soldier Daniel Shays became the face of these protests.
When local, state, and federal governments reacted harshly, Shays and other protest leaders began planning to overthrow the State of Massachusetts, starting with an attack on the National Armory at Springfield. In anticipation of the attack, Massachusetts raised its own private militia (the federal government couldn’t afford to supply an army for the cause), and the two armies clashed outside of the armory on January 25, 1787.
Even though the rebels outnumbered the militia by over 300 men, they were missing the group that was supposed to provide reinforcements due to a communication failure, and the rebel forces very quickly collapsed. They fled, regrouped, and kept on the move to avoid the militia before eventually making camp at Petersham.
The state militia, however, continued to follow the rebel forces and made a sneak attack on the camp February 3-4. The rebels were defeated nearly instantly. Over 150 were said to be captured, and most of the leaders escaped to Vermont and New Hampshire, where the Massachusetts-based militia couldn’t pursue them. The rebellion had been squashed.
Aftermath
Though the actual conflict lasted just over a week, it created huge ripples in history. It further laid bare some of the weaknesses of the government under the Articles of Confederation and heightened calls for a stronger federal government.
This came to fruition just a few months later in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which established George Washington as the country’s first president and ultimately produced the Constitution of the United States.
The Rebel’s camp and site of the last battle lies just off the AT and is marked by a stone monument and interpretive signage.
Sources:
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/shays-rebellion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27s_Rebellion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation#Presidents_of_Congress
The Great Carrying Place
NOBO mile: 2032.7
Many centuries ago, Native Americans in present-day Maine faced an issue: while the Kennebec River was a major highway and home to several villages, the section near what is now the town of Caratunk was just too dangerous for their birch-bark canoes.
In need of an alternative, they began exploring and discovered a 13-mile route that would allow them to bypass the treacherous section of river. Despite three ponds along the route to aid in the portage, it was still quite difficult to travel and became known as the Great Carrying Place.
When European settlers arrived on the stage, they too began to utilize the Great Carrying Place. French Jesuit priests used it to reach Native American villages in the 17th century, and English army engineer John Montresor explored it and mapped it in 1763. Its most famous Anglo-American usage, however, was by Benedict Arnold in the Revolutionary War attack on Quebec City.
Invasion of Canada
In the fall of 1775, the Revolutionary War was still in its infancy, and the newly formed nation had not yet won alliances with other nations. A plan soon formed to invade the British-held Canada with the intent of winning over French Canadians to the American side and annexing Canada. The strategy focused in on two cities: Montreal and Quebec City.
The talented Benedict Arnold had risen as a strong Patriot leader — this was still several years before he became known as America’s most infamous traitor — and was chosen to lead the attack on Quebec City.
Eleven hundred soldiers left Cambridge, Massachusetts in September, and upon reaching the Kennebec, they sailed up it in eleven schooners. These were later swapped out for 220 bateaux, or flat-bottomed boats, once the army reached Pittston, Maine. The first contingent arrived at the Great Carrying Place around October 6.
Difficult Passage
It wasn’t an easy passage. The bateaux weighed around 400 pounds each and were significantly wider than the canoes most travelers were using on the portage. On top of carrying the heavy boats, not to mention literal tons of food, weapons, ammunition, and other supplies, the soldiers were now also forced to spend precious time and energy widening the portage trail so that the boats could fit through.
These factors made the already difficult portage a nightmarish one. The army was considerably weakened by the enormous efforts, and a small log hospital had to be constructed to house the sick and injured.
The final contingent didn’t complete the 13-mile portage until October 19, nearly two weeks after the first soldiers had arrived. Many had to turn back, either because of the portage or the other many challenging circumstances along the journey. By the time the army reached Quebec City in early December, only 600 men remained.
Quebec City
Though Arnold’s men were eventually reinforced by the other army that had successfully captured Montreal in November, the Americans were still outnumbered by the British at Quebec City. This fact, coupled with the brutal winter weather that descended upon them, set the men up for failure.
The exhausted soldiers were freezing and unable to dig trenches because the ground was frozen. Making matters worse, smallpox broke out among their ranks. The final nail in the coffin? The anticipated assistance from the French Canadians never came.
Nonetheless, the Americans followed through with their attack on the city because many of the men were facing the end of their year-long enlistment, and without them, the army wouldn’t have the manpower to attempt the invasion.
Unsurprisingly, the battle went terribly for the Americans, and they were forced to withdraw. Arnold reorganized those who remained and attempted to lay siege to the city, but unfortunately for them, the British were well prepared to sit out the winter.
Arnold’s army continued to weaken throughout the winter and was ultimately forced to retreat when British reinforcements arrived in May, effectively ending the American campaign in Canada. It would be over a year before the Americans finally won the French over to their side.
Modern Day
Today the Appalachian Trail follows the Great Carrying Place portage exactly for three miles between Middle and West Carry Ponds. Signage around mile 2032 indicates this location, but not much else, if anything, remains from the Quebec expedition.
The remaining mileage of the portage trail is still maintained by the Arnold Expedition Historical Society and is blazed orange. Fittingly, AT hikers now deal with navigating the still-treacherous Kennebec River near Caratunk in a fashion very similar to how the Native Americans of long ago might have: a walk on the portage trail and a canoe ride across.
Sources:
https://www.mainetrailfinder.com/trails/trail/great-carrying-place-trail
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/quebec
https://www.trashpaddler.com/2021/05/paddling-to-great-carrying-place.html
If you’ve made it this far, I commend you! I had a lot of fun researching for this article, and I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about these fascinating places that might have only a sign to point out their significance, if that. It truly was a treat to spend 6.5 months walking the backbone of the eastern US and hearing what stories she had to tell.
Featured image: Photo via Sheraya Smith. Graphic design by Zack Goldmann.
