The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley was such a joy to create a show with. It was an honor to have my Tiny Ridge work on display in my hometown for 2023.
On view in the drawing room of the Glen Burnie House, this fascinating exhibition presents a series of photographs featuring figures from model train sets as little inhabitants in Tiny Ridge, an imaginary world created by photographer Sarah Jones Decker. A Shenandoah Valley native, Decker created Tiny Ridge in the landscape surrounding her North Carolina farm when she was looking for an artistic outlet during the pandemic. With the help of her young daughter, Josephine, Decker found magical settings in fields and forests to stage this whimsical world. On view through December 31, Tiny Ridge: Miniature Photography by Sarah Jones Decker includes 13 prints and a digital display of dozens of photographs. Don’t miss this unique installation. https://www.themsv.org/events/tiny-ridge/
Marshall author: New book is 'super fun little time capsule of me and my daughter at home'
Tiny Ridge Featured on @Bored Panda! Please share and upvote. Check it out here.
TINY RIDGE is here!
This is one of my favorite projects of all time and it is such a pleasure to share with you! 132 Full Color Pages of original work. #tinyridge
New book available here
Give me Shelter
Artist Talk & Book Signing - TRAIL DAYS 2022
Friday, May 13 • 530-700 p.m.
Rock School Auditorium, Damascus, VA
Give Me Shelter on the Appalachian Trail. (Presentation and book signing) Sarah Jones Decker is the author and photographer behind the popular book: The Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelters, Lean-tos, and Huts. Come learn more about the history, design, and documentation of these iconic structures and gathering spaces. Did I mention door prizes?
Meet the Artist
Saturday, September 18 • 5–6 p.m.
Meet photographer and author Sarah Jones Decker—whose work is featured in the MSV Trails installation Give Me Shelter: Scenic Views of the Appalachian Trail—during this informal Q&A session with MSV Director of Exhibitions and Artist Initiatives Corwyn Garman. The conversation will include a discussion of Decker’s work, inspiration, and process. Arrive early! Between 3:30 and 5 p.m. Sarah Jones Decker will be available in the galleries building lobby to sign copies of her bookThe Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelters, Lean-Tos, and Huts (available for purchase in the Museum Store for $27.50).
Meet the Artist program: pay what you can. Registration required by September 17. Register online or call 540-662-1473, ext. 240. Meet in the lobby of the galleries building for the program. Registration is not required for the book signing (free).
Raven Rock Ferns, MD
Adult Workshop: Outdoor Photography
At the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
Friday, September 17 • 6–7:30 p.m.
Educator and artist Sarah Jones Decker will review lighting and composition techniques for seeing and capturing great photographs while sharing examples of her work, including photographs from Give Me Shelter: Scenic Views of the Appalachian Trail, an outdoor photography exhibition installed on The Trails at the MSV. Participants should bring a camera or cell phone and dress for the weather. For ages 18 and older.
Madison author Sarah Decker to premiere book on local trails at Third Thursday
A little more than a year after publishing her debut book about shelters on the Appalachian Trail, Madison County Sarah Jones Decker will meet at Old Marshall Jail on Aug. 19 for a book signing on her upcoming book, "The Ridges of Madison County, N.C."
"It's not about bringing people from other places to Madison County," she said. "It's about people in Madison County being like, 'Oh my gosh. That hike's not that hard, and my family can go do that today.'
"I really see this as a guide for people who live here who want to get to know their backyard better," Decker said. "Working on this book helped me discover my backyard in ways I never thought it would. I learned a lot."
The 7 Best Lean-tos & Shelters on the Appalachian Trail - Field Mag
Extending nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail is one of the most famous hiking trails in the world—and reportedly the longest hiking-only trail (the PCT allows horses). For thru-hikers and day trippers alike, one constant connects the “Green Tunnel”—the shelters.
Peppered every eight miles throughout the route, across all 14 states, over 250 historic shelters, lean-tos, and huts dot the route, offering much more than just a dry roof for weary and weathered hikers. Designs vary, as do construction materials and styles, though most maintain the longstanding tradition of being a three-sided structure with a slanted roof and one open side. Simple, yet iconic.
Packed cover to cover with detailed history, images, stories, and maps, the stout book is a dang fine companion for a morning’s first cup of coffee or a cold drink at the end of the day—both perfect times to day dream of your next adventure. But for the AT novice, all those structures can begin to blend together. So, we reached out to Jones Decker and asked her to pick her top five favorites (she delivered her top seven, as no doubt this task was like choosing a favorite child). The following is her response in full.
Appalachian Trail Journeys - Summer 2020
I got the cover!!! Representing the home team with Madison County and Max Patch 🙌 I also have seven images throughout the magazine and I wrote an article on Page 42 :
The Trail Experience: No two hikes on the Trail are the same
Scout, NY style, 2008
Give Me Shelter: Scenic Views of the Appalachian Trail by Sarah Jones Decker
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley - outdoor exhibit
June 2020 - Dec 31, 2020
This outdoor photography exhibition represents the first time the MSV has presented an exhibition intended for the indoor galleries outside on its grounds. On view in the lawn just south of the formal gardens now through December 31, 2020, Give Me Shelter: Scenic Views of the Appalachian Trail by Sarah Jones Decker includes 15 photographs of the Appalachian Trail. One of the most popular hiking trails in the world, the Appalachian Trail has more than 275 backcountry shelters on its 2,192-mile route. Sarah Jones Decker thru-hiked the AT in 2008 and re-hiked it again in 2018 and 2019, often joined by her infant daughter, for a documentary project that resulted in the new book The Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelter, Lean-Tos, and Huts. Released in April of 2020, the 304-page publication chronicles the history of the AT’s shelters with photos, information, and detailed maps. Celebrate the beauty of the Appalachian Trail and the future Trails at the MSV with a visit to this unique exhibition
WNC Magazine - Summer 2020
OUT & ABOUT: NEW BOOKS TO TAKE YOU ON AND OFF THE USUAL TRAILS THIS SUMMER
It’s a rare person who hikes the Appalachian Trail from start to finish. And there’s only one who’s ever photographed every notable stop along the way. In her new book, Madison County resident Sarah Jones Decker documents the varied structures that give shelter to hikers.
Weizenblatt Gallery
Since Mars Hill University was not able to host a reception for Sarah Decker's show, she created a video to introduce the photos and tell something of the story behind this effort.
June 2020
The Trek [Book Review] First Book Dedicated to Shelters is a Gorgeous, Informative View of the AT and its History
Since the Appalachian Trail (version 1.0) was first completed in 1937, there have been scores, even hundreds, of guidebooks, memoirs, coffee-table books, and even illustrated children’s books published about the trail.
So, kudos to anyone who comes up with a new idea that’s not just original, but necessary, which is exactly what AT thru-hiker (class of ’08), photographer, writer, mother, and farmer Sarah Jones Decker has done with her deeply appealing, highly informative new photographic survey of shelters.
Buncombe County Libraries - Zoom the with North Carolina Room Pack Memorial Library
I virtually sat down with Katherine Calhoun Cutshall, North Carolina Room, Collections Manager and gave a Zoom presentation on the Architecture of the Appalachian Trail. In this video you'll learn about the various types of shelter styles, who maintains them, and why they're *NOT* all the same. We look at materials used, time periods, building styles and the difference of the shelters from state to state. Enjoy!
Architects + Artisans
The Architecture of the Appalachian Trail
Ten years after she hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 2008, Sarah Jones Decker celebrated her trail-iversary.
By doing it again.
This time though, she had a purpose other than the hike. This time, she was documenting each of the trail’s 276 shelters, lean-tos and huts.
Inspired by a pair of German conceptual artists who worked as photographers, she wanted to put them all in a book to be published by Rizzoli.
Blue Ridge Country Magazine
Our first reaction to Sarah Jones Decker’s new book, “The Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelters, Lean-tos, and Huts,” was something like, huh, where’s that been all these years?
It is indeed the first such documentation of the shelters, and was carried out in cooperation with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy
AT Journeys - Spring Issue
ARCHITECTURAL HOMAGE
A PHOTOGRAPHIC AND HISTORIC EXPLORATION OF MAN-MADE SHELTER ON THE A.T.
A nostalgic desire to get out and experience the Trail again, led new mother and former thru-hiker Sarah Jones Decker to begin a richly informative examination of the varied and unique structures that offer shelter to hikers on the Appalachian Trail. In The Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelters, Lean-Tos, and Huts Decker explores the more than 250 backcountry structures that exist along the 2,193-mile footpath.
Backpacker Radio Episode 71 | Sarah Jones Decker on Appalachian Trail Shelters
In today’s episode of Backpacker Radio, presented by The Trek, we are joined by Sarah Jones Decker, author of the new gorgeous photobook The Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelters, Lean-tos, and Huts. We learn what goes into a project as massive as doing a photo essay of all of the AT’s shelters, Sarah’s personal favorites, the history of these structures, which have the best privies, and much more. Sarah is also the co-owner of Root Bottom Farms, an organic farm based in North Carolina, and we selfishly pick her brain on how to suck less as plants.
We close out the show with a triple crown of things that start with W, a pupdate, some suggestions for using trail runners on rocky terrain, and another edition of Backcountry Matchmaking.
Might Blue on the AT - PODCAST
Episode #217 – Sarah Jones Decker (Harvest)
This week, we have a book theme in the show, with a giveaway of six signed books. The principal guest is Sarah Jones Decker, or Harvest, who thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2008, but that wasn’t the primary reason that we have Sarah as a guest. She has photographed and written about all the AT shelters in a beautiful book that evokes all the memories we share at those often rundown places. https://mightyblueontheat.com
“Opening” and Signing at FLOW GALLERY
A pandemic is a crazy time to publish your first book. Since we couldn’t hang out in person , we made this fun video until we can.
Flow is a gallery owned, operated and curated by artists, offering for sale the best of local and regional crafted objects and arts, traditional and contemporary.
Located in my town of Marshall, NC. Check them out! www.flowmarshall.com
Our State Magazine
Photography for -
Ramblin’ Man: The Sheltered Life by T. Edward Nickens
After a long day in the wilderness, even the most rugged outdoor enthusiasts can’t resist the comfort and good company found in a trail shelter.