Long before it carried its current name, the Green Mountain Club’s Worcester Section maintained a primitive camp on the shores of Cedar Meadow Pond in Leicester, Massachusetts. The property — located at 345 Rawson Street, on the south side of the road about 300 yards northeast of the Rawson Street bridge — provided the Worcester Section with a local base of operations, a gathering place for outings and annual meetings, and a community anchor for a section whose trail maintenance responsibilities ran far to the north, along the Long Trail in Vermont.
A 1956 survey document confirms the camp’s existence under the name "Cedar Meadow Pond Camp," and the Worcester Section’s Articles of Incorporation, filed in 1957, established the formal organizational structure that would govern both the section and the camp for decades to come. The Worcester Section itself was older still, having been founded on March 23, 1923 by George F. E. Story. By its tenth anniversary in 1933, the section had grown from 11 founding members to over 100, a milestone celebrated at a birthday party attended by several past presidents including the section’s first, Herbert M. Dockham.
The camp passed through the years under various informal names — Cedar Meadow Camp, Cedar Meadow Lake Camp, Cedar Meadows Camp — all gesturing at the same quiet pond-side setting that drew members back season after season.
Stanton Whitman: The Camp’s Guiding Spirit
No single figure shaped the life of the Worcester Section’s camp more than Stanton Whitman. A longtime president of the Green Mountain Club–Worcester Section, Whitman became a fixture at the Cedar Meadow camp beginning in 1977. Over the following three decades, he served in numerous capacities on the section’s Executive Board, but it was his hands-on presence at the camp that members remembered most vividly.
Stanton was known for arriving with paintbrush in hand, touching up the cabins, benches, and tables — a practice he maintained even into his late nineties. He was also central to the administrative life of the section: before the era of email and digital calendars, Stanton maintained a personal call list and would telephone members regularly to remind them of upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. His characteristic greeting — "Stanton Whitman here." — was familiar to generations of Worcester Section hikers.
Beyond the camp, Whitman played a formative role in the Worcester-area outdoor community more broadly. He was among the principals involved in the inception and build-out of the MidState Trail when the route was established in the 1970s, and he remained active in its ongoing maintenance.
Stanton Whitman passed away on May 14, 2010, at the age of 97.
The Renaming: Whitman Lodge, 2010
In the wake of Stanton Whitman’s death, the Worcester Section moved quickly to honor his memory in a lasting way. Barbara Day, then serving as Section President, announced that the primitive cabin at Cedar Meadow would be renamed "Whitman Lodge" in his honor. Writing in the Long Trail News (Winter 2010), Day recalled: "Stanton was a constant presence at our Cedar Meadow Lake Camp and served in many capacities on the Worcester Section’s Executive Board for years. Stanton will be remembered with his paintbrush in hand as he touched up the cabins, benches, and tables of the camp, even in his 97th year. Pre-computer days, Stanton always found time to call ‘his list,’ to remind us of upcoming events and of opportunities to help. The conversation always started … ‘Stanton Whitman here.’ To honor his memory, the Worcester Section has renamed our primitive cabin at Cedar Meadow ‘Whitman Lodge.’"
The new sign was formally unveiled at the section’s Annual Meeting in November 2010.
The Camp Today
Whitman Lodge remains the heart of the Worcester Section’s camp on Cedar Meadow Pond. The camp is open year-round to the public during daylight hours. Its facilities include Whitman Lodge itself, a changing-room house, a picnic area, and a porta-potty. The lodge and bathhouse are reserved for Worcester Section–sponsored events and can be rented in advance by arrangement.
The pond invites swimming (for adults and supervised children), kayaking, and canoeing. The camp hosts the section’s annual meetings, seasonal potluck dinners, a traditional New Year’s Day president’s open house with a potluck lunch by the wood stove, and a range of other outings throughout the year. The GMC Executive Director joined one such annual meeting in November 2016, reflecting the camp’s continued role as a gathering point not just for the Worcester Section but for the broader Green Mountain Club community.
Sources
- “Green Mountain Club – Worcester Section .” Accessed July 25, 2026. gmcwoo.org/welcome-to-our-camp.
- Long Trail News 2010 (2010). Green Mountain Club. 15.
- Worcester Newsletter (Worcester) 2017 (2017). Worcester Section, Green Mountain Club. 4.
- Long Trail News 2019 (2019). Green Mountain Club. 25.
