The Green Tunnel

Have you ever wondered who Charlies Bunion was named after or why there are two balds with the same name? On today's Iconic Location episode, we are exploring the mystery of Charlies Bunion.

The American Chestnut was one of the most magnificent trees in North America. On today's episode of The Green Tunnel, we're going to explore how it lived, how it died, and how – with the help of scientists, non-profit organizations, and passionate volunteers – it just might repopulate the Appalachian Mountains once again.

While no one has ever seen a dragon along the Appalachian Trail, hundreds of thousands of hikers have seen a dragon's tooth. Viewed from a distance this geological formation looks like one very large, very snaggly fang sticking up out of Cove Mountain.

This season the history we're starting with is really, really old. We are exploring the geological history of the rocks and mountains the Appalachian Trail runs through. We will also answer the age-old question, are the mountains actually getting taller?

On Tuesday, October 17th, The Green Tunnel will be back with Season Three! This season we're exploring the natural history of the Appalachian Trail. We'll dig deep into the trail's geological past, climb chestnut trees, follow some critters down unexpected paths, and consider the history of the trail's future. We'll also highlight iconic locations across the trail, from the Priest Shelter in Virginia to the Kennebec River Ferry in Maine. We've interviewed historians and scientists, hikers and authors, trail maintainers and mapmakers, to bring you new stories about the history and culture of the Appalachian Trail. For more information or to catch up on previous episodes, visit our website, R2Studios.org.

Planning section hikes can take a lot of work. Luckily, every section hiker out there has a go-to podcast to help with that planning. Julie Gayheart hosts the "Jester" Section Hiker podcast and there is no better resource for anyone interested in section hiking the Appalachian Trail. Today, Julie walks us through what it takes to hike the Connecticut section of the trail.

Today we're headed to Florida. While the AT doesn't run through Florida, the state has a lot of great trails, including the Florida Trail. And one of the best ways for you to learn about the FT is by listening to Orange Blaze. This podcast highlights the experience of hikers along the Florida Trail and is hosted by Misti 'Ridley' Little.

When the Appalachian Trail project began, volunteer clubs up and down the length of the trail committed themselves to first scouting, then building, and then maintaining the trail. In the last episode of season two, we are digging into the critical role women played in the early years of the AT. They played such a big role, some trail clubs limited the number of women allowed to join.

Today, we're hiking on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, to the site of Fontana Dam. It's the tallest dam east of the Rocky Mountains. Constructed in the 1940s, the dam and its resulting reservoir flooded four towns and affected the daily lives and memories of many people. So, why was the dam built and what lies beneath the cool blue waters of Fontana Lake?

Further Reading:

"Fontana Dam, N.C.," Appalachian Trail Conservancy

"The History of Fontana Village," Fontana Village Resort and Marina.

"Interview with Commodore A. Casada, 11 November 2009," interview by Rhydon T. Atzenhoffer, Oral Histories of Western North Carolina, Southern Appalachian Digital Collections.

Archival Photographs of Fontana Village and Fontana Lake, Southern Appalachian Digital Collections.

"Fontana," Tennessee Valley Authority.

"Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933)," National Archives and Records Administration.

Pete Seeger, "The TVA Song," Gazette, Vol. 1 (1958) Smithsonian Folkways Recordings https://folkways.si.edu/pete-seeger/gazette-vol-1/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian.

The Appalachian Trail is a much more diverse place in 2023 than it was as recently as 20 years ago. But if you spend much time on the trail, you know it's still a pretty white place. There are many stories about the challenges faced by members of marginalized communities who hike the AT, and we need a lot more research to better understand how the history of the trail and the history of race are closely interwoven.

On today's episode, attorney Krystal Williams of Maine and historian Phoebe Young of the University of Colorado-Boulder help us explore specifically how the history of the AT crosses paths with African American history, in ways you might not expect.

Further Reading:

Mills Kelly, "The A.T. and Race" AT Journeys, February 2021: https://appalachiantrail.org/official-blog/the-a-t-and-race/.

Megan Rosenbloom, Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin (New York: MacMillian, 2020).

Noelle Smith, "How Perceived Racial Differences Created a Crisis in Black Women's Healthcare," Nursing Clio, March 31, 2020, https://nursingclio.org/2020/03/31/how-perceived-racial-differences-created-a-crisis-in-black-womens-healthcare/

Harriet Washington, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Random House, 2008).

Phoebe S. K. Young, Camping Grounds: Public Nature in American Life from the Civil War to the Occupy Movement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021).