The third fire-spotter’s cabin on Stratton Mountain was a prefabricated log structure built in 1970 by the Vermont State Forestry Department, placed between the 1928 fire warden’s cabin (GMC ID 000214) and the summit fire tower. It was considerably larger than the 1928 cabin it was intended to replace, but fared far worse in the mountain environment. Beset by carpenter ants, porcupines, and the unrelenting weather of a southern Vermont summit, the cabin deteriorated rapidly once active fire-watching ended. It was intentionally burned in February 1995. It is the third in a series of fire-spotter’s cabins on Stratton Mountain, following Manicknung Cabin (GMC ID 000213, the original summit shelter) and the 1928 fire warden’s cabin that still stands today.
Setting: The Stratton Summit Fire Watch
The fire-spotting season at Stratton typically ran from the latter half of April through the beginning of November. The most dangerous period was early spring — after snowmelt but before trees leafed out — when dry ground and clear sightlines made fires both likely and visible. A fire-spotter was stationed on the mountain throughout the spring and summer months, year after year.
Among those who served in that role over the decades were Elmer H. Eddy (son of the late Hermon Eddy) and Rich Holman (Elmer’s brother-in-law), both of Stratton; Caroline Parmenter, who watched in 1950 and 1951; Joseph Ruel, who served for several years during the 1950s and 1960s; Tony Smith in 1962 and 1963; and Hugh and Jeanne Joudry, who served from 1968 to 1978. Doug Raskin was their successor. By 1980, however, aerial surveillance had taken over, and fire-spotting from the summit tower was discontinued.
It was during the tenure of the Joudrys — and in anticipation of continued active use — that Vermont Fire District #4 decided to build a larger, more modern cabin at the summit.
Construction: Summer 1970
In 1970, Vermont Fire District #4 commissioned a new cabin for the Stratton summit, to be placed between the existing 1928 fire warden’s cabin and the CCC-built fire tower. The structure chosen was a prefabricated log cabin produced by Green Mountain Cabins of Chester, Vermont — considerably larger than the modest 1928 pine-board cabin that had served fire-spotters for over forty years. Construction ran from July through September 1970 under the direction of Junior A. Harwood, supervisor of Vermont Fire District #4.
"Anywhere in Vermont": The Delivery
The construction of the cabin came with a logistical story that passed into local legend. The building had been purchased from Green Mountain Cabins, who guaranteed free delivery to the site "anywhere in Vermont." The contract was signed by all parties before Green Mountain Cabins discovered that the site in question was the summit of Stratton Mountain.
Supposedly, the company reluctantly honored its guarantee — and went out of business shortly thereafter.
Getting the prefabricated logs to the top required a solution of its own. They were transported by tracked vehicle from the base lodge of Stratton Mountain Ski Resort to the north summit, then hauled along the ridge to the south summit site where the cabin was to stand.
Deterioration and the End of Fire-Watching
Once the practice of stationing fire-spotters at Stratton was discontinued — aerial fire detection had made the human watch obsolete by 1980 — the 1970 cabin had no regular occupants and no ongoing maintenance program. The mountain environment moved in quickly. Carpenter ants, porcupines, and a general assault from the weather rapidly deteriorated the structure.
The 1928 cabin beside it, built to exacting specifications by Leon Stocker and maintained over decades of active use, survived. The larger, newer prefab did not.
The End: February 1995
The 1970 cabin was intentionally burned in February 1995. The debris was removed the following summer.
In this way, the original 1928 fire warden’s cabin — smaller, older, and built from dried matched pine boards by a Wardsboro carpenter for $150 — outlasted the much larger structure that had been meant to supersede it. As D.K. Young observed: "Thus, with only a few changes from its original construction in 1928, the little fire-spotter’s cabin still stands today, outlasting another log cabin that had been constructed at the summit in 1970."
Epilogue: Return to the Summit
After the Long Trail was relocated back to the top of Stratton Mountain in 1987, Hugh and Jeanne Joudry — who had last served as fire-spotters on the mountain a decade earlier — returned not as state employees but as GMC Summit Caretakers. They took up residence in the 1928 cabin during the summer months. The summit had come full circle: the state’s fire-watch infrastructure was gone, but the mountain’s oldest cabin found new purpose in the hands of the Green Mountain Club.
Sources
D.K. Young. History of Stratton, Vt.
Unknown Author. The History of Stratton, Vermont. Green Mountain Club. pp. 307–311.
