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 661 - 670 of 918 Records

King Rock
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    • Description: The explanation with the original slide states that this rock fell between Thanksgiving and Christmas 1909. Its estimated weight is 5,000 tons - as estimated by "a Middlebury Professor." The slide was colored by Mrs. Perry and retouched by her on November 16, 1924.
    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


    Upper Bingham Falls
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      • Description: The original image notes that the photographter, Towle, worked in St. Albans.
      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


      Buchanan boys at 592 marker at the Canadian border
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        • Description: Granite marker 592 marks the U.S. / Canadian border on the Long Trail. Pictured are: Roy Buchanan in Canada on the right, son Chester in the center, and Bruce Buchanan on the left in the U.S.A. Slide colored by Mrs. Perry.
        • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


        Lake of the Clouds
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          • Description: Slide made and colored by Beselers and later recolored in March 1929 by Mrs. Perry.
          • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


          Dean Panorama on Stark Mountain
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            • Date Created: 1917-08
            • Description: The boys in this photo are identified as Lyman and Rodgers Burnham. This panorama on Stark Mountain is 14 miles south of Camels Hump. The mountain in the distance is Camel's Hump (previously called "Couching Lion").
            • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


            Sunset view of Mount Mansfield from the East
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              • Date Created: 1926-05-06 00:00:00
              • Description: Both the slide and coloring were done by Robert Wilkinson of Montpelier.
              • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


              Tucker party on Mount Abraham
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                • Date Created: 1920
                • Description: Colored by Mrs. Perry in February or March, 1929.
                • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                Dead trees on Mount Mansfield
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                  • Description: Negative colored by Mrs. Perry.
                  • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                  Camp 4 on Bolton Mountain
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                    • Description: The sign in the middle of the image reads "Trout Club" and points to the right.
                    • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs


                    Birch Glen sign on General Stark Mountain
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                      • Date Created: 1917-02-18 00:00:00
                      • Description: The sign reads "Birch Glen 3 m." and has a G.M.C. (Green Mountain Club) marking.
                      • Parent Collections: Long Trail Photographs