Virginia Tech Course, Fall 2026: HIST 2624 and APS / SOC / PHS 4094

The Appalachian Trail (AT) was originally proposed as a walking route that would bring city dwellers into contact with the natural world. For more than one hundred years, Virginia has been part of the Appalachian Trail, from the first conceptual mapping by Benton MacKaye to the current status as the state with the most miles of the trail. Millions of people each year spend time on the AT, including thru-hikers who walk the entire distance of more than two thousand miles, section hikers who backpack on multi-day trips, and day hikers who spend hours on accessible sections. This course examines history along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, with particular attention to the more than one hundred miles of trail within an hour’s drive of Blacksburg. This course thus uses the route of the AT to explore more than five centuries of history that may be observed and encountered by those walking on the trail. 

To paraphrase MacKaye’s comment in 1971 about the purpose of the trail (quoted above): in this course, there are three things: to learn, to think, and to think about what you learn. Students will learn about history along the AT, think about the implications of this history for contemporary observers, and think about the methods involved in approaching history as a regional and public experience for visitors as well as residents.