By Jordan Bowman
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
May 26, 2021
Long before Benton MacKaye wrote his landmark 1921 article, “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning” — the article that sparked the imagination of thousands and led to the construction of the A.T. — the idea for the Trail came to him in the most appropriate way possible.
The year was 1900 and, in the rolling Green Mountains of Vermont, MacKaye laced up his boots and began to hike.