Washington Post blog writer Diana Reese features Grandma Gatewood Story

Diana Reese is a writer and blogger for the Washington Post and contributor to “She the People”. She just posted a great article about Grandma Gatewood that you should read. By Diana Reese January 5 at 2:12 PM She The People Grandma Gatewood survived domestic violence to walk the Appalachian Trail alone at 67 Even…

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Puffin Foundation West Grant!

We are happy to announce that the Puffin Foundation West has awarded us a grant in support of our documentary about Grandma Gatewood! This gift will go towards the matching requirements from our Ohio History Fund grant and puts us at about the half way point of our goal of $10,000. We have been working…

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The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog

We were pleasantly surprised and pleased to see that a story about Emma Gatewood and a clip from our project were on the Smoky Mountain Blog here is an excerpt: Who was Grandma Gatewood? In 1955, after raising 11 children, Emma “Grandma” Gatewood became the first woman to solo thru-hike the Appalachian Trail – at…

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AT Half Gallon Challenge

This past June we witnessed one of the interesting rites of passage that thru-hikers partake in at the half way point on the Appalachian Trail. Sitting on the front porch of the little store at Pine Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania, the “Half Gallon Challenge” becomes an informal race among the thru-hikers to devour a…

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Emma comes to life again on camera!

A special thanks to Anne McEvoy who was able to bring her “Emma” again on our shoot at Historic Lyme Village this past week. DP Tom Whaley of TW Teleproductions provided the talent and gear to capture Emma telling her story once again. Anne’s on-camera persona of Emma is key to our story. We also…

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Nearing the half way point

Our “Trail Magic” documentary on the life of Emma “Grandma” Gatewood has reached a rough cut stage. We are shooting the last re-enactment dialog scenes next week with our wonderful actress Anne McEvoy. If you are an Appalachian Trail hiker or interested in how Emma changed her life after 32 years of domestic abuse get…

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Trail Magic Live #3, Hospitality of strangers along the trail

[vimeo 85454603 w=500 h=281] Trail Magic- The hospitality of strangers along the trail from Peter Huston on Vimeo. Emma Gatewood traveled light, was highly self sufficient, and made friends out of strangers were ever she was. This short story included in the live presentation is the essence of what “Trail Magic” is all about. Many…

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Trail Magic Live #2 Emma, the “grandmother” of the Ultralight Movement

[vimeo 85454601 w=500 h=281] Emma Gatewood was probably the inventor or at least one of the earliest adopters of “Ultralight” back backing. Her life skills and years of commonsense applications, we would say now “adaptive technology” made her hikes possible with a minimum of gear. She thoughtfully preplanned the equipment, food and minimum support materials…

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Grandma Gatewood is on Twitter

To help promote our project we have set up @grandmagatewood for twitter friends.Emma was a communicator, letter writer and journal keeper. I think tweeting would have been like writing a postcard in Emma’s day. If you have a twitter account I hope you will help us and follow @grandmagatewood and we’ll follow you back! 

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