Henry Davis Farm in Lincoln offered Long Trail hikers meals and lodging for many years and was well known for the Davis family’s hospitality.
Located approximately 1.6 miles west of the Lincoln-Warren Pass at an elevation of 1,520 feet, the farm appeared in the earliest Long Trail guidebooks from around 1917 as a reliable resupply point in an era before package delivery was routine.
By 1927, the farm was among only four points on the trail where food, blankets, and lodging could be reliably obtained, alongside Killington Peak, Camel’s Hump, and Mount Mansfield. In 1929, Henry Davis was listed as maintaining the section of trail from Mount Roosevelt to the Lincoln-Warren Road. The farm served as a de facto resupply depot where hikers could address mail care of Henry Davis and obtain hot meals and clean beds. According to the 1937 guidebook, Mrs. Henry Davis offered meals and lodging, with a team available for transportation, though the farm still had no telephone.
By 1938, the Henry Davis house in Lincoln was still open for hikers, under the management of Mrs. Maud Miller, Davis’s daughter, and was well spoken of.
The announcement of Mrs. Henry Davis’s death in May 1939, at the age of 83, noted that she and her husband were famous for their entertainment of thousands of Long Trailers at their home in Lincoln over many years.
After the family’s era ended, the farm gradually faded from active use as the Long Trail’s shelter system expanded. Today a clearing marks the site of this farm.
Sources
- Long Trail Guide Book. 2nd Edition ed. Green Mountain Club, 1920.
- Long Trail News 1927 (1927). Green Mountain Club. 2.
- Long Trail News 1929 (1929). Green Mountain Club. 3.
- Long Trail News 1938 (1938). Green Mountain Club. 4.
- "Long Trail News." , no. April (1938).
- "Long Trail News." , no. April (1938).
- Long Trail News 1939 (1939). Green Mountain Club. 4.
- "Long Trail News." , no. May (1939).
- "Long Trail News." , no. May (1939).
- Green Mouintain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 1 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1917. Pp. 7.
- Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 11 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1937. Pp. 44.
- Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 11 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1937. Pp. 70.
- Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 11 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1937. Pp. 41.
- Walter Collins O’Kane. Trails and Summits of the Green Mountains. The Riverside Press , 1926. Pp. 407.
- Walter Collins O’Kane. Trails and Summits of the Green Mountains. The Riverside Press , 1926. Pp. 430.
- Walter O’Kane. Trails and Summits of the Green Mountains. 1926.
- Woodward, Paul & Joanne. Long Trail System Shelter History. 2nd ed. Green Mountain Club, 1999. Pp. 146.
