On Thursday, June 12, 2014, Archives and History Library will host “Volunteers for Forty Years: A History of the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association.” The program, which will be held in the library in the Culture Center in Charleston, will begin at 5:00 p.m., an hour earlier than the typical start time, and is free and open to the public.
In the early 1970s, a group of individuals came together and formed the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association (WVSTA) to develop hiking trails in West Virginia. The first project of the volunteer group was the Allegheny Trail, originally envisioned as a 200-mile trail running from Peters Mountain in Monroe County to Blackwater Falls State Park but now approaching 330 miles in length extending to the Mason-Dixon line.
The presentation celebrates the volunteer spirit of the makers of the Allegheny Trail and the Mary Ingles Trail from the association’s incorporation in 1974 to the present day. The surviving original incorporators as well as more recent volunteers and cooperating agency representatives will tell stories that highlight this unique recreational trail development effort in the Mountain State.
Among the speakers expected to participate are WVSTA founders Nicolas Lozano, Bruce Bond, Arthur Foley, and Robert Tabor; volunteers Dianne Anestis, Cindy and Anthony Majestro, and Doug Wood, WVSTA secretary; Robert Weiford, Mary Ingles Trail Blazers private landowner; Charles Dundas, president of Tri-State Company trail builders; and several individuals from government agencies: William Robinson with the WV Department of Transportation State Trails Program, Blackwater Falls State Park Superintendent Robert Gilligan, Barbara Breshock with the WV Division of Forestry, Matthew Edwards with Monongahela National Forest, and Robert Mathis, who is retired from the state parks system.
For additional information, call (304) 558-0230.
