Ferrum, VA, February 5, 2026 — The Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre at Ferrum College invites you to walk the Appalachian Trail—in your imagination—with Emma Gatewood, a pioneer of early trail hikers. “Grandma Gatewood Took a Walk” will take you on that journey February 20 to 22 in The Rex Stephenson Theatre. Directed by Emily Blankenship-Tucker, the play tells the incredible true story of the first woman to complete a solo through-hike of the world’s longest hiking trail—beginning her years of long walks when she was 67 years old.
Visiting performer Becky Prophet plays Grandma Gatewood, a woman from southern Ohio who decided to take a hike after her eleven children were grown up. Rebecca Crocker ‘02, assistant professor of theatre arts, plays thirteen different people who interact with Gatewood as she tells the story of her hike and her life.
Rachel Blankenship-Tucker is the stage manager, assisted by Caroline King ‘22. They both performed in “Mary Poppins” and “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” last year, along with Crocker and Emily Blankenship-Tucker. Students Michael Tate-Banks, Nicholas Gore, and Zy’kie Scales are the run crew.
Students will also perform with Orchestra Appalachia, playing several songs at the beginning and end of the play, and intermission. Student musicians in the photo are Jackson Spence (left of Rachel and Emily Blankenship-Tucker), Quinn May, Sarah Montgomery, and Madison Cox. Other students from theatre classes are assisting with building the set and other aspects of the production, including Hannah Dix working in the box office.
Emma Gatewood worked hard indoors and out throughout her upbringing and marriage in the Appalachian foothills near the Ohio River, learning to use foods and medicines that nature provides. She also loved to read and to escape from drudgery and abuse by walking in the woods. She got an idea for her great adventure after she read in “National Geographic” about the Appalachian Trail, which had been completed in 1937 with over 2000 miles of scenic paths from Georgia to Maine.
Gatewood told a reporter in Virginia, “I thought it would be a lark.” She loved the beauties of the landscape, but she found that the trail was not as smooth and easy to navigate as the 1949 magazine had described it. Her first attempt starting in Maine ended in failure, so she started over in Georgia in 1955 after rethinking her preparation. Trail markings could be unclear and obstacles such as flooded streams could block the way; she could and did get lost sometimes.
With as many supplies as she could carry in a homemade cloth sack—no special equipment or training, but determined and bold enough to ask people for rides to towns and shelter along the way, she persisted. After the first trip made her famous, Gatewood completed the Appalachian Trail two more times, and other long trails across the country—writing journals and poetry as she hiked, for a total of over 14,000 miles before she died at age 85. She was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame in 2012, the year after it was created at the Appalachian Trail Museum in Pennsylvania.
Prophet admitted that she wanted to say no to Ferrum’s invitation when she first saw the script, because “there’s too much in this character.” But then “Emma caught me,” she declared. While memorizing so many lines and cues is her biggest challenge, taking the role of this complex woman also involved emotional and cultural preparation for Prophet, reflecting on the rural lives of her parents and grandparents during Gatewood’s lifetime, and her own lifelong enjoyment of camping and biking. Prophet noted that when her family camps, they take as much equipment as her grandmother ever owned, while Gatewood climbed mountains with only a few small tools and a series of seven pairs of shoes that she wore out.
“I’m excited that Becky Prophet has returned to Ferrum to play this fascinating role,” said Professor of English Tina Hanlon. “In May 2009, my literature students and I saw her perform in an ensemble cast with Emily at the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre in ‘Wedding Belles.’ I wrote a review that described the ‘heartwarming hilarity’ of that play about a group of small-town Texas women. I think that phrase characterizes most BRDT shows over the years, and audiences will find the same compelling blend of comedy and down-to-earth realism in this play’s depiction of a hard-working country woman’s extraordinary journey.”
“It turned out when I met Becky that I had assigned one of her favorite plays, Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest,'” continued Hanlon, “so we got a surprise bonus when an enthusiastic dramatist visited my Experiential-Term class that May to teach it.” Crocker pointed out that the college’s Music and Theatre program likes to host visiting artists so that Ferrum students can work with professionals who have different perspectives and experience in different kinds of places.
Rachel Blankenship-Tucker spent her birthday on February 3 doing a bit of Emma Gatewood library research in Roanoke and walking a couple miles on the cold, snowy Appalachian Trail with cast, crew and family members, near Sawtooth Ridge. Prophet said they were profoundly moved by the “real experience” of walking where Emma Gatewood had walked in 1955.
Crocker commented on choosing this play because the Appalachian Trail story includes locations near us and it is “about where we are.” The production is a smaller one, full of internal reflection with “emotionally challenging moments,” that fits in the “beautiful intimate space” of the Rex Stephenson Theatre. “Come to this show if nature is important to you, if taking control of your own life is important to you,” she said.
Prophet is professor emerita of theatre at Alfred University in western New York. This is her first time to be directed by her former student. She said this week that Emily Blankenship-Tucker, “a distinguished graduate” of Alfred University, was the best student she ever had in more than fifty years of teaching. While she was still an undergraduate, Blankenship-Tucker first came to work at the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre in the summer of 2001, and its founding artistic director, Rex Stephenson, brought her back as its music director in subsequent years.
“‘Grandma Gatewood Took a Walk’ is a powerful reminder of resilience, courage, and the enduring human spirit,” said Ferrum College President Mirta Martin. “Through this remarkable true story, the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre invites our community to reflect on perseverance, reinvention, and the quiet strength it takes to keep moving forward–no matter one’s age or circumstances. We are proud to present a production that honors both the art of storytelling and the extraordinary life of Emma Gatewood.”
The play is performed with permission of the playwright, Catherine Bush. A playwright-in-residence at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, she published this script in 2023.
The play has adult themes and is not intended for children. This true story has been told in the nonfiction book “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk” by Ben Montgomery (2014), and in many news reports and features as well as Gatewood’s diaries and interviews with her and her family. Her reminiscences in the play include memories of surviving several decades of brutal domestic violence. Some articles said she was widowed because she did not want reporters to know of the former husband who might try to find her.
Performances are February 20 and 21 at 7 p.m. and February 22 at 2 p.m., in the lower level of Schoolfield Hall. Meals served by the cast and crew in Franklin Hall can be purchased for February 21 and 22. Meals in the college dining hall are also available any day without meal reservations.
Tickets can be purchased at https://www.ferrum.edu/theatre-tickets, or by leaving a message at 540-365-4355, or theatre@ferrum.edu. Show tickets are $10, or $30 with a reserved meal.
The next production at the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre is “The Music Man,” March 19-22. On April 1 at 11:30 a.m., Rebecca Crocker and her students will present their ongoing work with puppetry in “Pet-a-Puppet: Past, Present and Future,” as part of the Inquiring Minds series hosted by Stanley Library.
“The Reward of Nature”
By Emma “Grandma” Gatewood
If you will go with me to the mountains
And sleep on the leaf carpeted floors
And enjoy the bigness of nature
And the beauty of all out-of-doors,
You’ll find your troubles all fading
And feel the Creator was not man
That made lovely mountains and forests
Which only a Supreme Power can.
When we trust in the power above
And with the realm of nature hold fast.
We will have a jewel of great price
To brighten our lives to the last.
For the love of nature is healing,
If we will only give it a try
And the reward will be forthcoming,
If we go deeper than what meets the eye.
Poem inscribed on the back of the Emma Gatewood Ohio historical marker near her home
Rehearsal and hiking photographs courtesy of Rachel Blankenship-Tucker.
Rehearsal photograph of Orchestra Appalachia by Tina Hanlon.
Photograph of “Wedding Belles” from Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre archive, with Becky Prophet on the right and Emily Blankenship-Tucker second from the left.
Permission for photograph of Emma Gatewood: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.
