USPS pane celebrates centennial of Appalachian Trail

By Scott Tiffney

On Feb. 28 in Dawsonville, Ga., the United States Postal Service will celebrate the centennial of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail with a pane of 15 nondenominated (73¢) forever stamps picturing views from the 14 states through which the trail passes, from Maine to Georgia, showcasing the trail’s scenic variety. Dawsonville marks the southern terminus of the trail.

As with all forever issues, the stamps will always be equal in value to the current first-class domestic letter rate.

A first-day ceremony will be held Friday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time at the Amicalola Falls State Park, 418 Amicalola Falls Lodge Road, in Dawsonville, GA. Those wishing to attend are asked to register online.

The trail was first conceived in 1921 by forester Benton MacKaye, who planned a trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness camps along the Appalachian mountains from Mount Washington in New Hampshire to Mount Mitchell in North Carolina. Curiously, hiking was not the original focus of MacKaye’s plan.

On Oct. 7, 1923, the first section of the trail, from Bear Mountain through Harriman State Park in New York state, was opened. In 2024 MacKaye then called for a two-day trail conference to be held in March 1925 in Washington, D.C.

This resulted in the formation of t he Appalachian Trail Conference, now called the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of the trail.

Today the Appalachian National Scenic Trail traverses almost 2,200 miles along one of the most ancient mountain ranges, yet is within easy reach of several large metropolitan areas.

For the 2025 Appalachian Trail issue, Ashton Potter Ltd., one of two contract printers for the USPS, printed 34.5 million stamps in a quantity of 2.3 million panes of 15. A plate number consisting of a “P” followed by four single digits is printed in the two bottom corners of the pane. Each digit represents one of the colors used to print the stamps: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

Post offices wishing to hold an event for the Appalachian Trail stamps are required to use a pictorial dedication postmark consisting of a circular datestamp to the left of an unfolding trail map against the backdrop of the sun peeking out across a mountain landscape, with “THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL” in bold text underneath. “The word ‘Station’ or the abbreviation ‘STA’ is required somewhere in the design because it will be a temporary station,” the USPS said. “Use of any image other than the … special pictorial image is prohibited.”

Two pictorial first-day cancels for the new Appalachian Trail stamps are being offered by the Postal Service, one in black and the other in color.

The black postmark is applied free, up to a quantity of 50, to most collector-submitted covers. There is a 5¢ charge for each additional postmark over 50.

The black postmark features the wavy words “The APPALACHIAN TRAIL” winding through the first-day location details on the left and underneath a shield to the right, which consists of a trail, tree and the Appalachian Trail symbol of an “A” atop a “T.”

The color postmark is an illustration of the North Carolina stamp featuring a flowered mountain vista framed by a brown rounded-top border with “THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL” in beige text at the bottom.

The color postmark can be obtained by collectors on envelopes made from laser-safe paper. There is an order minimum of 10 envelopes with a fee of 50¢ per postmark. The Postal Bulletin provides additional ordering information.

Both postmarks are also applied to first-day covers manufactured and sold by the Postal Service. All requests for Appalachian Trail first-day cancels must be postmarked by June 28.

Further Appalachian Trail issue products are available at the online USPS shop.

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