Green Mountain Club

The Green Mountain Club (GMC) was founded in 1910 largely upon the initiative of James P. Taylor (1872-1949). Taylor had been assistant principal of Vermont Academy in Saxtons River where he took students on hiking excursions in the Green Mountains. He was discouraged by the lack of suitable trails and shelters and vowed to do something about it. He contacted many prominent Vermonters and convinced them that there was a place in Vermont for a hiking club to build and maintain trails and shelters in the state. On March 11, 1910, the Green Mountain Club was formally organized with twenty-three members and a broad vision, "to make the Vermont Mountains play a larger part in the life of the people."

From the beginning the Club undertook the huge project of building a trail from the Massachusetts border to Canada along the crest of the Green Mountains. The project was finally completed in 1930, and the Long Trail remains the major focus of the Club.

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