OCVT Outdoor Club at Virginia Tech

08/14/2026

We have two AT Trailwork trips posted on our trips page. More info and to sign up: https://ocvt.club/trips

05/27/2026

Our May volunteer spotlight goes to Theresa Duffey! 🌟

With almost four decades of Appalachian Trail stewardship experience, Theresa exemplifies keeping the Trail alive. She has not only been a member and leader with the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club (ODACT), but also has become a key part of the broader A.T. community.

She served on the ATC's former Board of Managers, chaired the Virginia Regional Partnership Committee, and currently contributes as a member of the ATC’s Stewardship Council, serving as chair of the Partnership Coordinating Committee.

Theresa encourages anyone considering volunteering to give it a try. She says, "As a volunteer for the A.T., you will never meet a more dedicated group of individuals who are willing to welcome you by sharing their passion, expertise, and devotion.”

Start your own volunteer journey at appalachiantrail.org/volunteer.

05/21/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18eg8T5Gbx/

05/21/2026

05/16/2026

Were you bitten by a ? After removing it, you can save it & send it to VDH's Tick Survey Program. The goal is to understand which ticks are biting people & the locations of Virginia's tick species. https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/ticks/tick-identification/virginia-tick-survey/

02/17/2026

February 20, 2026 Writing About a Very Long Trail 2:30pm in Fralin Auditorium, with refreshments at 2:00pm

SPRING 2026 FREC SEMINAR SERIES

Mills Kelly

Emeritus Professor of History, George Mason University

February 20, 2026

Writing About a Very Long Trail

2:30pm in Fralin Auditorium, with refreshments at 2:00pm

Abstract: Professor Mills Kelly is the author of two books, several articles, and the host of a popular podcast on the history of the Appalachian Trail. In this seminar, Mills will discuss his research processes (some of them unconventional), and how he made sense of information spread across 100 years, 14 states, 35 volunteer organizations, three federal and countless state agencies. His two books, Virginia’s Lost Appalachian Trail (2023) and A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail (2025) are rich in detail about America’s most iconic long-distance hiking trail and offer a wide variety of stories about how the trail came to be, how it has been maintained, the people who hike it, and the local communities affected by its presence. In addition to explaining how he works with very messy historical data to craft compelling narratives, Mills will offer a few stories from the trail’s history and its present.

About Mills: Mills Kelly is an emeritus Professor of History at George Mason University where he taught for 24 years before retiring in 2025. He has won a variety of university, state, national, and international awards for his teaching, including a Fulbright Fellowship (2024), the Gutenberg Teaching Award from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany (2020) and the SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award (2010), Virginia’s highest recognition of faculty excellence. From 2019-2024 he was the executive director of George Mason’s award-winning Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and these days is the chair of the board of directors of the Handmade Music School in Floyd, Virginia. Mills is the maintainer of the historic Manassas Gap Shelter on the Appalachian Trail and an active volunteer with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Mills is also an avid photographer and recently returned from a photographic expedition to Antarctica.