GARDNERS, PA (March 25, 2013) - The Appalachian Trail Museum has been awarded a $30,000 grant by the South Mountain Partnership to help fund an outdoor rampitheater walkway. Local matching funds exceed $80,000.

"This is welcomed funding because it makes it possible for us to extend the Appalachian Trail experience to visitors with disabilities," said Larry Luxenberg, president and founder of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society, the non-profit organization that manages the museum. "The American Disability Act compliant walkway provides access to the museum's newly expanded lower level -- continuation of the work previously funded in part by a South Mountain Partnership mini-grant. That initial work led to the museum's first upper level exhibit space which was opened to the public in June 2010."
The rampitheater is part of a larger project that will rehabilitate the museum's lower floor, two upper floors, and all heating and air conditioning systems and research and design education exhibits that will allow the lower level to be opened to the public.

Luxenberg said work on the rampitheater will begin within a few weeks and completion is expected before the end of the summer. More than 7,000 visitors experienced the Appalachian Trail Museum during the 2012 season. Luxenberg said since opening in 2010 the museum has had more than 23,000 visitors from across the United States and many other countries.

Located in a 200-year-old, restored grist mill in historic Pine Grove Furnace State Park and at the midway point of the 2,184-mile-long Appalachian Trail, the museum is across from the Pine Grove General Store on scenic Pennsylvania Route 233 in Cumberland County.

About the Appalachian Trail Museum Society The Appalachian Trail Museum Society, a 501-C-3 not-for-profit organization formed in 2002, organizes programs, exhibits, volunteers and fundraising nationwide for the Appalachian Trail Museum. The museum opened on June 5, 2010, as a tribute to the thousands of men, women and families who have hiked and maintained the 2,184 mile long hiking trail that passes through 14 states from Maine to Georgia. Located in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Gardners, Pennsylvania, the museum is conveniently near Carlisle, Gettysburg and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Additional information is available at www.atmuseum.org.

The South Mountain Partnership is a unified group of private citizens, business, not for profit organizations and governmental officials working to protect, preserve and enhance the South Mountain Landscape in Central Pennsylvania. The partners in the South Mountain Partnership have a wide array of expertise, representing state and local governments, non-profit organizations and educational institutions. They are working together to protect the quality of life in the region and its sense of place. Visit http://www.southmountainpartnership.org/ for additional information.