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 811 - 820 of 918 Records

Smugglers' Notch rock against which we camped
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    • Date Created: 1920-02-20 00:00:00
    • Description: Pictured in this photo is Clarence P. Cowles.
    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


    West from a pass under the chin of Mount Mansfield
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      • Date Created: 1920-02-21 00:00:00
      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


      Clarence P. Cowles on Stark Mountain
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        • Date Created: 1917-02-18 00:00:00
        • Description: The original title states that Mr. Cowles is from Burlington, Vermont.
        • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


        Looking North from where the Long Trail crosses the road at Middlebury Gap
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          • Date Created: 1921-07-31 00:00:00
          • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


          Lake Pleiad at sunset
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            • Date Created: 1921-08
            • Description: Photo taken near the outlet of Pleiad Lake.
            • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


            Glen Ellen Lodge
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              • Date Created: 1920
              • Description: The sign above the windows on the right reads "Glen Ellen."
              • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


              Mount Mansfield Summit House from the nose
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                • Date Created: 1920-08
                • Description: This building is also referred to as the "Vermont Hotel."
                • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                North from the site of the old hotel on Mount Killington
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                  • Date Created: 1921-08-08 00:00:00
                  • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                  Baker's Notch at the fork
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                    • Date Created: 1919-09
                    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                    Lake of the Clouds from the Mount Mansfield Adam's apple
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                      • Date Created: 1920-08-12 00:00:00
                      • Description: Pictured is Leverett T. Smith.
                      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs