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 1 - 6 of 6 Records

Taylor Lodge
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    • Date Created: 1927-02-22 00:00:00
    • Description: Negative taken by Mr. Hilton of Underhill. Slide made by Clark of Burlington. Colored by Mrs. Perry in February, 1929.
    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


    View of ponds from Jay Peak
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      • Date Created: 1927-04-15 00:00:00
      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


      Baby fox near Jay Peak
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        • Date Created: 1927-08-26 00:00:00
        • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


        James P. Taylor on route to Jay Peak
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          • Date Created: 1927-06-25 00:00:00
          • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


          Three Musketeers sitting at Hazens Notch
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            • 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


            New Barnes Camp
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              • Date Created: 1927
              • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs