NCT Memorabilia - Part 1 - Mugs

by JHY

Frankly, I'm just plain jealous. The Appalachian Trail actually has a museum society, and now a building. They hope to hold their grand opening on National Trails Day, June 5, 2010. Their home will be at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania in a 200-year-old grist mill. The location is within a couple of miles of the mid-point of the AT.

The North Country Trail doesn't even have a definitive collection point for items of interest, or anyone even working seriously on keeping track of things that should be collected.

However, Tom Gilbert, our National Park Service Superintendent, has been working on an agency history of the trail for years. Those of you who attended the 2006 Pennsylvania conference will recall his "wall of history."There is a closet full of gear used by Peter Wolfe, one of the earliest end-to-enders. There are some tapes of interviews with Virginia Fink, an early volunteer, but no one seems to know where the tapes are.

It's killing me! But I just don't have time for another major volunteer project. Meanwhile, I've decided to start an occasional feature of memorabilia on this blog. Clearly, the items I've chosen to feature first probably aren't the most important.

As far as I know, these four drink containers are the only ones with NCT logos. I don't even know for sure what year each of them appeared on the scene. Of course they are all large enough for a good swig of beverage. Hikers need mugs, not teacups!

The white ceramic mug was first offered for sale in the January 1995 NCTA North Star. They sold well, but the logo faded after many dishwashings. This was followed in 2005 by the much nicer, and even larger blue 25th Anniversary mug.

Of the travel mugs, only the blue one was offered for sale. The white one was issued as a free gift at one of the conferences. Both of the travel mugs have the 7-state map on the opposite side.

Was this fun? From time to time, I'll post some small selection of memorabilia from the history of the North Country Trail. Although it's much shorter than that of the AT, it would be great if it could be preserved.

See The Appalachian Trail Museum Society