Long Trail Photographs

The Long Trail Collection includes over 900 images of the oldest long-distance hiking trail in the United States: Vermont’s Long Trail. The collection is mainly comprised of black-and-white and hand-colored lantern slides derived from photographs taken between 1912 and 1937. It documents the Green Mountain Club’s building of original trails and shelters and illustrates the enthusiasm for the Long Trail project (and hiking in general) at the turn of the century. These images chronicle the views and landscapes seen by early hikers of the Long Trail and provide an historical record of people associated with the Green Mountain Club’s formative years. The images in this collection were captured by Green Mountain Club members Theron S. Dean and Herbert Wheaton Congdon, both of whom were early contributors to the trail’s development. Congdon surveyed and mapped a large portion of the early trail including a fifty mile stretch from Middlebury Gap to Bolton. Congdon, along with Leroy Little and Clarence Cowles, is also credited with the first winter ascent of Mount Mansfield on February 21, 1920. Dean is perhaps the most prolific documenter of the Long Trail’s development. Dean traveled throughout Vermont presenting slideshows and giving talks about the Long Trail, often to hundreds of people. A number of the original lantern slides in this collection were used by Congdon and Dean in their Long Trail presentations. Dean in particular meticulously cultivated his lantern slide collection and displayed these slides during his many talks. The original slides can be viewed in the Dean and Congdon collections at the University of Vermont Silver Special Collections Library. More information about the Long Trail can be obtained from the Green Mountain Club. The slides were scanned by the University's Landscape Change Program with the generous support of the National Science Foundation. The digitized photographs also appear in the Landscape Change image database at: http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/

Showing 31 - 40 of 181 Records

Congdon and surveying wheel at Dunsmoor Lodge
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    • Date Created: 1920-08-24 00:00:00
    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


    Carmel Camp porcupine chews
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      • Date Created: 1922-08
      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


      Montclair Glen Shelter - 7.9 miles from Birch Glen
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        • Date Created: 1935-08-05 00:00:00
        • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


        Approach to Birch Lodge from the North
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          • Date Created: 1919
          • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


          Ward Olney and Leverett Smith washing dishes at Carmel Camp
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            • Date Created: 1921-08
            • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


            Northbound from Boyce Lodge
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              • Date Created: 1926
              • Description: The people in this image are identified as: Miss Murphy, Connie, and Helen. The person named "Connie" may be Connie Gilbert.
              • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


              Ritterbush Camp
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                • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                Cowles Cove Shelter
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                  • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                  Elihu B. Taft Lodge on Mount Mansfield
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                    • Date Created: 1919
                    • Description: The two men in the image are not identified. Photograph taken from the front approach to the lodge.
                    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                    Emily Proctor Lodge and Breadloaf Falls
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                      • Date Created: 1919-09
                      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs