[at-l] MacKay WAS Same old, Same Old---

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 09:30 PM 3/21/2005 -0500, Carol Donaldson wrote:
>"An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning",
>MacKaye's original proposal for the AT that was published in the October
>1921 Journal of the American Institute of Architects. It was not a "sales
>pitch to government" and it is interesting to note that the ***1st*** of
>the features he listed as being part of the proposed project was "the trail".
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>Doncha think maybe that MacKay never envisioned the spread of the 
>industrial revolution and the explosion of technology?
>
>Who knew in 1921 that humans would progress beyond "Fuelwood, logs, and 
>lumber are other basic needs of the camps and communities along the trail. 
>These also might be grown and forested as part of the camp activity, 
>rather than bought in the lumber market."
>
>Fuelwood?????  Food and lumber were all he envisioned people in the 
>communities near the Trail would need.  (I note that he failed to mention 
>a LOT of things that people living in 'community' need beyond food and 
>fuelwood.)   He didn't see beyond the simple life.  We have airports, 
>Interstate highways, space stations, nuclear plants, microwaves, 
>television, the internet.  We have the complex life that wasn't even 
>dreamed about in 1921.
>
>Anyway.  All that is a moot point today, isn't it?  We're in 2005 and we 
>can't return to 1921 even if we wanted to.  We take what is and try to 
>preserve it or conserve it.
>
>And that's the best we can do.  The Trail is already a reality.  Does it 
>meets MacKay's or Avery's specifications?  Like most of our 'dreams' it 
>probably meets them to the best of the abilities of those who worked and 
>currently work for the ATC and other related organizations.
>
>(How's that Mr Bullard?)
>
>Coosa  -- 60, blonde and proud

Actually he did foresee the spread of industrialization and he intended the 
trail and its communities (note that they were to be part of the trail and 
held in common, in other words, communes) and work camps to be antidotes 
for what he saw as the evils of soulless work in the cities. He believed 
that vacations spent going back to nature and contact with the remaining 
wild areas of the Appalachian highlands would restore the spirit of city 
dwellers. The trail does do that for many hikers albeit without the 
socialist aspects he envisioned. A fairly common thread among thru-hikers 
is the realization that they are happier owning less and living a simpler 
life. That is a bit ironic because MacKaye dismissed thru-hiking as a stunt 
yet they are the ones who seem to come closest to the kind of experience he 
envisioned.