[at-l] Roanoke Times on Ms Tillie passing

[Carla & Dave Hicks]

The following, much more Trail focused was in the :

>>
Hostel owner ran a quiet oasis for AT hikers

Several hiking message boards and blogs included stories of memorable stays at 
Tillie Wood's accommodations.
By Amanda Codispoti
981-3349

This spring, Tillie Wood made her last trip to her Giles County hostel with 
the help of granddaughter Neville Harris.

For the past 20 years, Tillie Wood spent two months of the year at Wood's Hole 
Hostel in Giles County, where she awoke before dawn to make biscuits for 
hikers who sought refuge from the rigors of the Appalachian Trail.

This spring, with the help of her granddaughter, Neville Harris, Wood made her 
last trip to her log cabin just half a mile off the AT.

Next spring, Harris will open the hostel without her grandmother, who was 
known and loved by hikers from across the nation.
Wood died Sunday in Roswell, Ga. She was 89.

Wood and her late husband, Roy Wood, rented the cabin in the early 1940s, when 
Roy was a graduate student studying a nearby herd of elk.

They later bought the property, and after Roy's retirement they converted the 
cabin into a hostel and added a bunkhouse.

Since then, Wood has spent from May to July serving breakfast to hikers who 
considered the hostel a luxury after many hard nights on the trail.

"Once they started using the place, word got around," said Charles Parry, an 
AT trail supervisor. "It was just a very nice place to stay."

The amenities include a solar-powered shower, a fireplace, a porch and, of 
course, breakfast.

"Tillie was a great cook," Parry said.

Every day, she served breakfast to the first eight people who had signed up 
the night before.

The comfort she provided made the hostel a destination for hikers, said Laura 
Belleville, regional director of the southwest and central office of the 
Virginia Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

"She's completely loved by the AT community," Belleville said.

News of Wood's death was noted on several hiking blogs and message boards, as 
were stories of memorable stays at her accommodations.

Last year Wood filed an easement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation to 
permanently preserve the 100 acres where the hostel is situated.
"This is a small paradise, really," said Elizabeth Obenshain, executive 
director of the New River Land Trust.

Obenshain described trees and logs covered with lichen, and the chestnut log 
cabin in a clearing.

"They had loved and cared for this place and made it a famous stopover on the 
Appalachian Trail," Obenshain said.
Wood's sister, Tinky Mills, spent a few summers at the hostel.

"It is so peaceful. You sit on the front porch and look out on the valley," 
Mills said. "You hear the birds and the rustle and the wind."
She recalled befriending hikers and spending time with her sister, taking 
hikes or going on picnics.

"She'll be with us for several generations because she's so famous, so 
well-known," Mills said. "I don't consider her gone because she'll live in the 
memory."
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dave hicks -- a.k.a. Chainsaw

PS -- there was a picture, but I cut it as many of us have email set to "text 
only" as  security precaution.  See url:
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/136130