Edward S. Bryant, a preservation‑minded landowner and avid outdoorsman who controlled roughly 10,000 acres around Bolton. In the 1920s, Bryant granted the Green Mountain Club permission to extend the Long Trail across his property and to build a new shelter there. Working closely with Dr. E. G. Twitchell and Ernest T. Smith, the Burlington Section designed a structure unlike any other on the Trail. Completed in 1928, Bolton Lodge was intentionally crafted to resemble a rural cottage of Wales or Ireland: four feet of cobblestone at the base, white stucco walls, and a four‑sided roof with rounded corners. Red and black shingles were trimmed irregularly to mimic a thatched roof, and green trim brightened the doors and windows. Inside, the 15‑by‑25‑foot room held bunks for twelve, a sturdy stove, and white‑birch furnishings. Even the floor—flat stones set in cement—was chosen to make the building porcupine‑proof.
The site itself was selected by Bryant, who knew the mountain intimately. Set in a clearing with a spring nearby and Joiner Brook tumbling just beyond, the lodge offered a sweeping view of Camel’s Hump, known then by its older poetic name, the Couching Lion. When it opened, Long Trail News called it “probably the best constructed and most inviting camp yet built on the Trail.” The cost—about $1,100—was raised from many contributors, and the Burlington Section quickly adopted the lodge as a centerpiece of its identity.
By the 1930s and 1940s, Bolton Lodge had become a beloved gathering place, especially in winter. The Burlington Section’s New Year’s Eve tradition was legendary: while others celebrated in town, club members shouldered packs and hiked the 3.5 miles up to the lodge, often in deep snow or, as in 1940, on treacherous ice. That year sixteen hikers arrived by 9:30 p.m., filling the bunks well beyond capacity. They spent the final hours of 1940 swapping stories, listening to Professor Buchanan read aloud from a hiker’s trail journal, and working through a sack of peanuts in lieu of whittling. At midnight, they burned the old calendar amid whoops and yells echoing through the rafters. The next day, ten more hikers arrived, turning the lodge into a bustling winter outpost. One participant later reflected that the camaraderie inside that small stone cabin—people of all ages and professions sharing the trail and helping one another—embodied the spirit that made the Long Trail possible.
Maintenance of the lodge was constant. In June 1958, twenty‑four Burlington Section volunteers undertook a major repair effort, rebuilding part of the chimney, replacing roof boards and shingles, installing new windows, repairing bunks and furniture, and improving the privy. Despite such efforts, vandalism took its toll; by the early 1960s, many windowpanes had been smashed. Eventually, as the Long Trail was rerouted and Bolton Valley Ski Area expanded, the lodge fell out of regular use.
A new chapter began in 2013, when the State of Vermont acquired the Bolton Nordic property near the head of Bolton Valley. The purchase included both Bolton Lodge and Bryant Camp, another historic structure built in the early 1930s. The Green Mountain Club agreed to restore and manage both cabins for public use, returning Bolton Lodge to the Long Trail system after decades of obscurity.
In 2017, the GMC undertook a full restoration of the aging structure. Crews stabilized the deteriorating stone walls, replaced the rotted floor, added new sheathing, and installed roofing shingles that matched the original 1928 design. By late fall, the interior had been refinished, and a new woodshed and composting privy completed the site. Nearly ninety years after its construction, Bolton Lodge once again welcomed hikers and skiers—its distinctive stone base, stucco walls, and “thatched” roof standing as a testament to the craftsmanship, imagination, and community spirit that built it.
Sources
- Long Trail News, 1928.
- Long Trail Guide Book. 8th Edition ed. Green Mountain Club, 1930.
- Long Trail News, 1940.
- "Long Trail News." 2013.
- "Long Trail News." 2017.
- Roy Buchanan, Long Trail News, 1958.
