Tracing Trails Semester of Service offers Research on History of Indigenous People ByNicole Patterson
MOUNT ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY is continuing on a path of discovery this spring as Director of Outdoor Adventures Chris Duffy and Associate Professor of History Michelle Patterson, Ph.D., work to maintain and uncover the history of the hiking trails on Mary’s Mountain. This semester, Patterson is teaching a service learning course where students are studying the history of the trails and researching the indigenous people who lived there. At the end of the semester, students will make suggestions to President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D., to rename one of the trails—currently known as Indian Lookout—to give credence and credit to the native owners and their stories. In the winter of 2019, Duffy and Coach Jay Phillips, C'05, MT'08, director of cross country and track & field, began exploring the university’s mountain property. “We found several old paths on the mountain that may have been trails, roads or game paths a long time ago,” Duffy explained. The two used GPS and other digital mapping tools to document some existing paths along the mountain. “Jay and I both dreamed of how great it would be if we could put together a trail network for the students, faculty and staff of the university. We decided it would have to be a long-term project.”
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FEATURE SPRING 2021
Duffy had documented many possible paths and determined they were on the Mount’s property. He put together a plan for how to link the trails and work to improve them. “When we were quarantined, I was looking for meaningful work and decided I would spend my days working on these trails,” he said. “My thought was that this could be a silver lining to the horrible tragedy we’re enduring—and the paths could be something for students to enjoy once they return to campus.” In the summer of 2020, with help from his daughter, Zoe, and Phillips, Duffy established and marked three new paths. In July, while preparing handouts for new student orientation, he printed a trail map to provide to new students titled Indian Lookout Trail. “In light of the significant increase in social and intellectual awareness concerning our nation’s history that’s happening at this time, it struck me: Is this place name, this trail name, Indian Lookout, appropriate? Respectful?” He began researching the name and consulting with faculty and alumni. Duffy reached out to Patterson; he believed her service learning class would be a great way to further research on this issue while providing students with meaningful work.
