Tenants of MacKaye's Seminal AT Essay

The following lists the four main tenants of MacKayes seminal essay on the Appalachian Trail, published in the October 1921 issue of The Journal of the American Institute of Architects.

The Trail

Walking trails had already been carved out by groups in the east, such as the Appalachian Mountain Club in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Green Mountain Club in Vermont. The Appalachian Trail would eventually form a cohesive trail, cared for by individual trail groups in each state that it passed through. MacKaye first envisioned the trail to stretch from the highest point in the north, Mount Washington, to the highest point in the south, Mount Mitchell. Blazing the trail, MacKaye stated, would be done by volunteers because, "...after all, volunteer 'work' is really 'play'." This wonderful/crazy outlook on life shows that MacKaye was probably not invited to many parties in college. He foresaw the whole AT project as a non-profit endeavor, that would harness the free time of 40,000 Americans a year who would hack away wilderness to form a trail instead of going to the beach for their 2-week a year vacations. This may give the reader a clue to why the AT today is not the one envisioned by MacKaye in the 1920s.

Shelter Camps

MacKayes essay described shelter camps that would hold equipment for use along the trail and would be located about a days walk apart for maximum convenience. He described them as Swiss-chalet type structures that would enable the weary traveler to rest and eat.

Community Camps

MacKaye believed that community camps would grow naturally out of shelter camps. They would be used for non-industrial community recreation, recuperation and study (field schools for colleges, etc.). The community camps would also serve a higher need, according to MacKaye, as a battle line against fire, flood and even disease.

Food and Farm Camps

Naturally supplementing the community camps, the food and farm camps would grow in adjacent valleys and would provide jobs for many Americans dissolusioned from their current positions as professional sitters in offices in tall rectuangular buildings. These camps would also harvest timber to provide fuel and building materials for the other camps.