Brunswick recognized for its Appalachian Trail support, connection

Jun. 7—Abbie Ricketts has always appreciated Brunswick's natural assets. The coordinator of the city's Appalachian Trail Committee doesn't live directly in Brunswick, but considers the area her home after growing up in a cabin along the Potomac River.

Now, with Brunswick's designation last week as an Appalachian Trail Community, Ricketts is glad that more people can learn about the community that's been so dear to her since the 1970s.

During a ceremony on Saturday, the city officially joined 52 other cities and towns in the United States as an Appalachian Trail Community.

The designation is part of a program by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to recognize communities along the trail that provide crucial supplies to hikers or have a rich history of recreation and volunteering.

"We felt we were in a good position and that we had all the amenities in Brunswick that hikers would need," Ricketts said, citing the city's campground, hotel, Airbnbs and restaurants.

Located about three miles from an Appalachian Trail access point in Weverton, Brunswick is one of the first two municipalities in Maryland to receive the Appalachian Trail Community designation. Boonsboro is the other.

According to Katie Allen, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's landscape conservation director, trail visitors and designated communities enjoy a "symbiotic relationship."

Gateway communities provide a place for hikers to stay and stock up on supplies, Allen said. Municipalities also enjoy economic benefits from visitors passing through.

Nathan Brown, Brunswick's mayor, said the city has been especially focused on its recreation economy the past few years, and is looking forward to the increased opportunities that will come with this designation.

"It's one more way that just puts us on the map, that adds us to the conversation when people are engaging with the Appalachian Trail," he said. "I think this adds a tool ... to be able to market our community and help with our business attraction."

Each year, more than 3 million visitors hike at least a portion of the Appalachian Trail, which runs from Georgia to Maine and passes through 14 states, Allen said.

Ricketts and another representative from the city's Appalachian Trail Committee presented Brunswick's application for the designation to members of the conservancy in April.

Brunswick stood out among the applicants because of the city's willingness to evaluate its land use and conservation and grow its downtown around the Appalachian Trail recreation economy, Allen said.

In February, the city began participating in the Environmental Protection Agency's Recreation Economy for Rural Communities program, an effort to help cities develop their natural and cultural resources and revitalize their downtowns.

And in April, Brunswick participated in a "flip flop" kickoff event, providing food, shuttle services and overnight camping facilities at the Brunswick Family Campground to hikers starting their trail journeys in nearby Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

"Flip flop" hikers start in the middle of the trail, then do the rest.

"We have a really good partnership with Harpers Ferry," Ricketts said. "They don't have a campground up there, but we do, so we can work together."

According to Allen, the designation program will allow Brunswick to capitalize on even more partnerships and resources for growth.

For Ricketts, that influx of recreational tourism is an exciting possibility.

"People are starting to take a different look at Brunswick and realizing what a gem it is, what potential it has," she said.