Deer View Cabin

In the years following the Green Mountain Club’s founding in 1910, the work of completing and maintaining the Long Trail depended not only on volunteer labor but on a growing network of trail shelters to house hikers along Vermont’s mountainous spine. The Bennington Section, responsible for the southern reaches of the trail, was among the sections that erected primitive overnight accommodations during the 1920s as the trail corridor took shape.

One such structure was Deer View Cabin, a rustic camp shelter built by the GMC near Harmon Hill, in the Bennington section of the Long Trail. The cabin took its name from the open, elevated terrain in its vicinity — Harmon Hill rises to 2,325 feet and commands sweeping views across the Bennington valley and the hills of southwestern Vermont. For hikers approaching from Massachusetts or making their way through the southern section, the cabin provided a welcome stopping point.

The precise date of construction is not recorded in surviving sources, but the cabin was in use during the early-to-mid 1920s as part of the expanding shelter system. By the latter part of the decade, however, Deer View Cabin had deteriorated beyond practical repair. The harsh Vermont winters and the seasonal demands placed on a simple wooden structure had taken their toll.

Thendara Camp: A Gift from the New York Section (1929)

By 1929, the Trustees of the Green Mountain Club determined that Deer View Cabin needed to be replaced entirely. Funding and construction of a new shelter at this “choice location” came from an unexpected and generous source: the Thendara Mountain Club, the New York Section of the Green Mountain Club.

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