Willis-Ross Annex

The Willis-Ross Annex was an open-front log lean-to built by the Worcester Section in 1934 on a point of land across the bay from Willis-Ross Camp on Stratton Pond. It sat 0.2 miles from the camp along the North Shore Trail, faced the pond, and drew its drinking water from the spring at Willis-Ross Camp. The structure had a good fireplace and bunks for 8 to 10, serving as an overflow shelter for hikers who found the main camp full.

The Annex burned in the fall of 1952. The Worcester Section rebuilt it the following year — same location, same open log construction, same water source — though the replacement was slightly smaller, with bunk space for 6. This second structure served for eight years before being dismantled in 1961. When it came down, the upper portion of the frame was salvaged and repurposed as the roof structure of Bigelow Shelter, which replaced the Annex at a new location 200 yards west of Willis-Ross Camp, directly on the Long Trail and facing north over the pond.

Across both incarnations the Annex provided nearly three decades of supplemental capacity at one of the Long Trail’s most popular pond destinations, ending only when a better-sited replacement made the off-trail annex arrangement unnecessary.

Sources

  • Long Trail Guide Book 1956 (1956). Green Mountain Club. 18.
  • Long Trail Guide Book 1956 (1956). Green Mountain Club. 16.
  • Long Trail Guide Book 1956 (1956). Green Mountain Club. 62.
  • Long Trail Guide Book 1956 (1956). Green Mountain Club. 63.
  • Long Trail News 1957 (1957). Green Mountain Club. 3.
  • Long Trail Guide Book 1960 (1960). Green Mountain Club. 26.
  • Long Trail Guide Book 1960 (1960). Green Mountain Club. 24.
  • Long Trail News 1960 (1960). Green Mountain Club. 2.
  • Long Trail Guide Book 1960 (1960). Green Mountain Club. 70.
  • Long Trail News 1961 (1961). Green Mountain Club. 6.
  • Long Trail News 1973 (1973). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 15 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1956. Pp. 18.
  • Green Mountain Club. Guide Book of the Long Trail. 16 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1960. Pp. 26.