"I just started going for a walk and kept going…"

     --Emma Gatewood

We’ve all heard the phrase, “A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step”. But for Emma Gatewood, the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (at the age of 67!), her journey of 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine began long before she took that first step.

Born Emma Rowena Caldwell on October, 25, 1887, in Gallia County, Ohio, she grew up in hard times. Her father, a farmer, had lost a leg after being wounded in the Civil War and turned to a life of drinking and gambling, so she was left to help her mother raise 15 children, sleeping four to a bed in the family’s small cabin.

But it wasn’t until she married Perry Clayton (P.C.) Gatewood that her troubles really began. Soon after they were married in 1907, P.C. began severely beating and abusing Emma, which went on until she left him for good in 1939.

And then, in 1955, she set out to conquer the Appalachian Trail in nothing more than a duffel bag and a pair of Keds sneakers.

There are so many things to learn from Emma Gatewood’s story, but one that resonates with me is this: it’s never too late to start a new journey. It’s never too late to change your life. There are 1000 legitimate reasons not to pursue that dream you don’t tell anyone about. The one you don’t even dare tell your family about. She had all those reasons too, but she did it anyway…and once she did it, she was free.  

Emma Gatewood not only went on to thru-hike the AT three times, she also hiked the Oregon Trail (2000 miles from Missouri to Oregon). Then, when she was in her early eighties, she spent ten or more hours a day clearing and marking a 30-mile hiking trail through Gallia County, OH that would later be connected to the Buckeye Trail. She had found her purpose…her power.

I wonder if the physical journey of hiking the AT is simply the physical manifestation of an internal journey that one must take…something we need to figure out about ourselves, which can only happen by putting one foot in front of the other for 2000 miles.  

And if that’s where you find yourself, I wish you the courage to take that first step…the courage to go for a walk, and keep going.

- Nicholas Piper, Director of Grandma Gatewood Took a Walk

Emma Gatewood
Mary Lucy Bivins*

PC Gatewood/et all
John Hardy*

Guitarist
Ben Mackel

*Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors, and Stage Managers in the United States.

Director
Nicholas Piper

Scenic/Projection Designer
Derek Smith

Costume Designer
Lee Alexander Martin

Lighting Designer
Andrew Morehouse

Sound Designer
Connor Stevens

Composer/Musician
Ben Mackel

Stage Manager
Megan Ward*

Producing Artistic Director of Barter Theatre
Katy Brown

*Denotes members of the Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors, and Stage Managers in the United States.

Wardrobe Supervisor
Chelsea Bannan

Production Assistant
Madison Harosky

Lighting and Sound Operator
Shawn Glenn Martin Knost

Production Sponsor