Ruth Blackburn

Ruth Blackburn.  Mrs. Blackburn’s service to the Trail began in the early 1940s researching courthouse records in the counties of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  These records were enormously helpful in the land acquisition project. She held leadership roles in the Potomac AT Club, becoming President in 1965.  Later, she was named to ATC Board of Managers, becoming Chair in 1981. She led a campaign in the Virginia legislature for protection of the Trail and led the Maryland  Department of Natural Resources from 1984 to 1990, helping to form the Maryland AT Management Committee.  Mrs. Blackburn was the main stabilizing person when the Appalachian Trail Conference faced the resignation of its Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Managers.

In 2013, She was inducted into the A.T. Hall of Fame.

https://www.atmuseum.org/2013-class.html

The above information was provided with permission, compliments of the Appalachian Trail Museum and its manager Julie Queen