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 791 - 800 of 833 Records

Rock face through the trees
Image nop
    • Date Created: 1920
    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


    Congdon lookout - Mount Abraham from Mount Ulysses Grant
    Image nop
      • Date Created: 1918-08
      • Description: Pictured are Herbert Wheaton Congdon and Allen Smith.
      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


      Leverett Smith and porcupine at Dunsmoor Lodge
      Image nop
        • Date Created: 1920-08-25 00:00:00
        • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


        The best part of the trip!
        Image nop
          • Date Created: 1922?
          • Description: Pictured is Fred Bliss.
          • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


          Coming thunder storm looking from Camel's Hump to Lake Champlain
          Image nop
            • Date Created: 1919-07
            • Description: Camel's Hump was previously referred to also as "Couching Lion."
            • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


            Two women camping on the trail
            Image nop
              • Date Created: 1926-02-24 00:00:00
              • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


              Hotel on Couching Lion (Camel's Hump)
              Image nop
                • Date Created: 1865
                • Description: The photographer, W.H. Ridley of Burlington, told Dean that he was born on July 2, 1862. He is the little boy on the horse at left. He spent the summer of 1865(?) at the hotel with his parents. "Couching Lion" is the previous name for Camel's Hump. Slide colored by Mrs. Perry.
                • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                Three Musketeers sitting at Hazens Notch
                Image nop
                  • Date Created: 1927
                  • Description: Pictured are (from left to right): Catherine Robbins, Hilda Kurth, and Kathleen Norris. Miss Robbins and Hilda Kurth were teachers, and Miss Robbins attended Middlebury College. These three were the first women to hike the entirety of the Long Trail. They covered 280 miles in 27 days. The marker behind them reads "Long Trail South."
                  • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                  Congdon and Leverett Smith on Mount Mansfield
                  Image nop
                    • Date Created: 1920-08
                    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                    View of Liberty Farm from where the Couching Lion trail enters a wood
                    Image nop
                      • Date Created: 1914
                      • Description: This slide comes from a series of photos taken during Herbert Wheaton Congdon's journey along the Long Trail from Mount Mansfield to the Brandon-Rochester Pass in 1914. Accompanying Congdon were three non commissioned officers of the 23rd Regiment NY National Guard, Company A. "Couching Lion" is the previous name for Camel's Hump.
                      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs