[at-l] Trail History: "Rogers Cottage"

[mharaburda@yahoo.com (Matthew W. Haraburda)]

#    Just as a side note: The ATC is initiating a program of directing
#Trail-interested people towards corridor adjoining lots that are being
#sold
#off by the owners. The idea is that these lands could be developed with
#the
#Trail in mind. I assume this strategy involves parcels that are too
#difficult
#to acquire and will inevitably be developed. These new owners then #arrange
#with ATC for preserved forever status when they purchase. This way
#encroachment can be controlled. I know there are several lots off to the
#right of the Trail on Peters mountain about a mile before Wildcat Shelter
#(NY).

Anyone know who at the ATC to contact in rerards to this program? The idea
of owning a piece of land next to the trail the could be enjoyed now and
left to the ATC for preservation later really appeals to me.

Thanks,
Matt


-----Original Message-----
From: at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net]On Behalf Of
RoksnRoots@aol.com
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 11:29 PM
To: AT-L@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [at-l] Trail History: "Rogers Cottage"


A poster wrote:

<One other private home setting was available back then: Roger Brickner's
cottage above Greenwood Lake in NJ. Roger owned a cabin in a summer home
community up there, and opened his house for extended weekends in hiking
season, when he was there. He actually had a friend post a small cardboard,
hand-lettered sign on the AT maybe two days north of Springer as an
inspiration to beginners to keep on going. You had to sign up at the DWG
hostel. Again, you could stay one night, you helped with cooking and
cleaning, and you were gone in the morning. (Roger would shuttle hikers to
various places, as well.) This also was a "town" setting; although you
reached the cottage by a faintly marked side trial from the AT, the cottage
was set cheek-by-jowl with the other bungalows in the colony.>

 ~~~ I stayed in "Rogers Cottage" on my 1986 hike. It was a simple little
bungalow about 40 feet long and 12 feet wide under a canopy woodland setting
on a steep-sided ridge dropping down to Greenwood Lake. This was a real
Trail
treat because it was off a small side trail about a 1/4 mile steep down from
the Trail on the ridge. The faint side trail had a small inconspicuous sign
at the junction and Roger built a small "oasis" about half way down. The
oasis consisted of a metal patio table and chairs upon which he laid the NY
Times and a cooler full of lemonade -in case he wasn't home. It was great
because it was on a mundane flat ridge walk in between town stops. But is
was
also great because it was a Trail fixture and part of the
anxiously-described
features one kept looking forward too as he hiked. It was definitely 'Old
Trail'. We built the Wildcat Shelter in 1992 a few miles north relieving the
fact that Roger moved up to New Hampshire.

     I visted Rogers Cottage last fall. It still has the big painted white
lettering on the back extension roof with scruffy shingles old with moss
saying, "ROGERS COTTAGE" in white paint. This faces the uphill where the
faint side trail comes down. They tore down the bungalow next to his. I
remember talking to Roger in 1987 asking who owned it. He said the town
traced the owner to Newark, but the taxes had not been paid in years, so it
was demolished.

    His name is still on the mailbox, so I assume he still owns it. I peered
in and saw that the inside is still like it was in '86 with sparse old
furnishings. The cottage probably needs work now and is starting to show
signs of aging in the Appalachian humidity. The 'right cut' tongue and
groove
clapboard shack lacks a foundation and sits on shifting cinder block
supports.

    I am probably a little Trail soft, but seeing these Old Trail icons -now
no longer considered on the active Trail, makes me nostalgic. I looked at
some concrete work on the walk with "1969" scratched in it and mused over
what the world was like back then, and how many original Trail people were
still alive and involved, the old route, and the hundreds of early day
hikers
who wandered down to a cottage when the Trail was a simpler entity. The side
trail is still visible, but showing some grow-in, and the grounds seem to be
settling back into forest floor unkempt. The scene is Trail poetry
unwritten.

    Just as a side note: The ATC is initiating a program of directing
Trail-interested people towards corridor adjoining lots that are being sold
off by the owners. The idea is that these lands could be developed with the
Trail in mind. I assume this strategy involves parcels that are too
difficult
to acquire and will inevitably be developed. These new owners then arrange
with ATC for preserved forever status when they purchase. This way
encroachment can be controlled. I know there are several lots off to the
right of the Trail on Peters mountain about a mile before Wildcat Shelter
(NY).



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