White Crow Camps was a private camp located in the Hell Hollow valley of Woodford, Vermont, just north of what is now Vermont Route 9. It is known from a single source: it appears as a labeled feature on the Bennington Section map in the first edition of the Long Trail Guide Book (1917) but is not mentioned anywhere in the guide’s text. No subsequent guide book edition, Long Trail News issue, or other GMC record refers to it. The camp’s owners, dates of operation, and ultimate fate are unknown.
Historical Record
Appearance on the 1917 Bennington Section Map
The sole contemporary record of White Crow Camps is its appearance on the map accompanying the Bennington Section description in the Green Mountain Club’s first Guide Book of the Long Trail (1917). The map, titled "The Long Trail Through Bennington Section," depicts the trail corridor from the Massachusetts border north to Manchester, showing camps, shelters, lodgings, and prominent landmarks.
White Crow Camps is labeled on the map in the Hell Hollow area, positioned roughly one mile south of the GMC Camp in Hell Hollow and just north of the road that is now Vermont Route 9. Despite its appearance on the map, the Bennington Section text in the same guide book makes no mention of White Crow Camps whatsoever. The text’s accommodation list for the Bennington Section—which names Sucker Pond, Hell Hollow, Glastenbury Stream, Camp Eleven, Somerset Dam, Grout Job, Stratton Mountain, and Dufresne Job—does not include White Crow Camps.
The optional route described in the 1917 guide—following Glastenbury Stream from the GMC Camp about 1½ miles, then along an old railroad grade to Old Glastenbury—passed through the general vicinity of White Crow Camps. The Bennington and Glastenbury Railroad, which had served the logging industry in this valley in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, had been defunct for some years by 1917, and its grade became an informal trail route.
Approximate Coordinates and Geographic Notes
White Crow Camps is described as located approximately one mile south of the GMC Camp in Hell Hollow and just north of the road that is now Route 9. The GMC Camp at Hell Hollow was situated at the foot of the Hell Hollow valley, accessible by road from Bennington. The Long Trail/Appalachian Trail trailhead on Route 9 in this area is approximately 5 miles east of downtown Bennington, roughly at 42.883°N, 73.097°W. The coordinates for White Crow Camps given above (42.888°N, 73.100°W) are a rough geographic estimate based on the relative position described by Woodward and the USGS data for Hell Hollow Brook (which passes through this area at approximately 42.910°N, 73.116°W). These coordinates have not been field-verified and should be treated as approximate only. The camp site, if any physical remains exist, would be located in the Glastenbury Wilderness area of the Green Mountain National Forest, which is managed for limited access.
Sources
- Green Mouintain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 1 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1917. Pp. 10.
- Woodward, Paul & Joanne. Long Trail System Shelter History. 2nd ed. Green Mountain Club, 1999. Pp. 152.
