April 26, 2019
GRANDMA GATEWOOD COMES TO HOT SPRINGS:
THE WOMAN WHO SAVED THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL
On Friday, April 26 2019 at 7:00 pm the Friends of the Hot Springs
Library, will sponsor “An Evening with Grandma Gatewood” at the Hot Springs
Welcome Center on Main (Bridge) Street in Hot Springs, NC. The event is free, a
part of Hot Springs' Annual TRAILFEST celebration, and the public is invited.
Actress Anne Van Curen will bring Emma “Grandma” Gatewood back to
life and tell the inspiring story of the woman who at 67 became the first woman to
through-hike the Appalachian Trail (AT). Gatewood also pioneered ultra-light
hiking, and made her trek in 1955 with no tent, carrying her few items in a sack
over her shoulder, and wore out 7 pairs of sneakers on the way! Relying on her
lifelong love of hiking, her knowledge of edible plants, and lots of “trail magic”
along the way, Gatewood hiked her way free of a past that included horrible
domestic violence. Seeking no publicity, her plucky trek nevertheless captured the
imagination of America and helped promote the AT and long-distance hiking at a
time when few were aware the Appalachian Trail even existed.
Anne Van Curen, a registered nurse and native of Marysville TN, has been
re-enacting Emma Gatewood to audiences around the Southern Appalachians. For
more information about Van Curen, visit http://mountainstorytelling.com/ .
