Bromley Lodge

Bromley Lodge was built by the Manchester Section of the Green Mountain Club in 1933, positioned on a small brook in open hardwood forest at an elevation of approximately 2,148 feet. The lodge was a very comfortable structure on a small brook with bunks for 12, and featured an inside fireplace. This made it a notably well-appointed shelter compared to many of its contemporaries on the southern Long Trail.

The lodge proved popular with trail travelers, with one man liking it so well that he made it his summer home, acting as a voluntary caretaker. By the late 1930s, it had become an established destination on the route, appearing in hiking guides and appearing regularly in trail journals as a point of reference for distance calculations and overnight stays.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Bromley Lodge maintained its place on the trail system. In 1950, trail reporter Earl V. Shaffer found it in fair condition with good marking on the trail leading in from the road. Hikers continued to use it during this period, including those on multi-day hikes.

However, evolving circumstances led to its retirement in the early 1940s. The clearing of the Bromley Mountain ski run from the summit down to East Dorset, combined with changing patterns of trail use and maintenance standards, rendered the lodge increasingly obsolete. By 1951, the Long Trail Guide noted that trail routing in the vicinity of Bromley Lodge had been substantially rerouted, requiring hikers to watch carefully for National Forest blazes rather than following the original path.

By the mid-1960s, the original wooden structure had been abandoned for many years.
In June 1967, work parties pulling down the old chimney—remnants of the old Bromley Lodge—found it had been a potential hazard for a long time. The shelter that replaced it, Bromley Camp, built in 1955 by the Long Trail Patrol, served the area until 1984, when it too was removed in favor of tent platforms and a communal fireplace arrangement. Bromley Lodge itself now exists only in historical records and the memories of those who sheltered in its rooms during its brief but memorable decades of service to Long Trail hikers.

Sources

  • Long Trail News 1933 (1933). Green Mountain Club. 2.
  • Long Trail News 1934 (1934). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. 10th Edition ed. Green Mountain Club, 1935.
  • Long Trail News 1937 (1937). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Long Trail News 1938 (1938). Green Mountain Club. 1.
  • “Manchester Section Notes..” Long Trail News, no. June (1938).
  • Long Trail News 1939 (1939). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Long Trail News 1941 (1941). Green Mountain Club. 2.
  • Long Trail News 1942 (1942). Green Mountain Club. 8.
  • Long Trail News 1943 (1943). Green Mountain Club. 6.
  • Long Trail News 1946 (1946). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. Green Mountain Club, 1947. Pp. 70.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. Green Mountain Club, 1947. Pp. 20.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. Green Mountain Club, 1947. Pp. 21.
  • Long Trail News 1950 (1950). Green Mountain Club. 3.
  • Smoke and Blazes (Killington) 04 (1951). Killington Section, Green Mountain Club. 14.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. Green Mountain Club, 1951. Pp. 5.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. Green Mountain Club, 1951. Pp. 63.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. Green Mountain Club, 1951. Pp. 20.
  • Long Trail Guide Book. Green Mountain Club, 1951. Pp. 21.
  • Long Trail News 1957 (1957). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Long Trail News 1958 (1958). Green Mountain Club. 2.
  • Long Trail News 1963 (1963). Green Mountain Club. 3.
  • Long Trail News 1964 (1964). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Long Trail News 1964 (1964). Green Mountain Club. 3.
  • Long Trail News 1967 (1967). Green Mountain Club. 6.
  • Long Trail News 2000 (2000). Green Mountain Club. 5.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 10 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1935. Pp. 16.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 10 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1935. Pp. 17.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 11 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1937. Pp. 69.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 11 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1937. Pp. 20.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 11 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1937. Pp. 21.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 12 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1940. Pp. 72.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 12 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1940. Pp. 21.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 12 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1940. Pp. 22.
  • Woodward, Paul & Joanne. Long Trail System Shelter History. 2nd ed. Green Mountain Club, 1999. Pp. 182.
  • Woodward, Paul & Joanne. Long Trail System Shelter History. 2nd ed. Green Mountain Club, 1999. Pp. 17.