Twenty Eastern White Pines logged locally in Vermont were used to create a 12-bunk crew cabin at Dartmouth Outing Club’s Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Built in 2010 by Dartmouth’s Class of ’84 alumni as well as current students, the new lodge is located 50 miles from the college campus in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The nearby Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, built in the 1930s, is a getaway for students and faculty, and rents rooms to the public.
The new crew cabin houses student workers from Dartmouth, who come to Mount Moosilauke during the summer to cook, clean, and help with the upkeep of the lodge, which averages 5,000 guests per year. A group of five Class of 1984 architects led the project, reworking the original concept of the cabin into a “model of sustainable design.” In addition to the use of local Eastern White Pine, the builders used natural lighting, ventilation from high windows, on-demand water heating and FSC-certified siding.
Fitting in with the rustic nature of the lodge and the mountain setting, the crew cabin is lined with light-stained pine. Robin Meyers, a 2010 graduate, says of the cabin, “It’s luxurious. The previous loft was above the lodge’s kitchen and it was pretty dark and cramped. Here, it’s spacious and there are a lot of windows. It still even has that smell of freshly cut wood.”
About 80 volunteers led by David Hooke Class of ’84, a professional carpenter, took an intensive timber-framing workshop and spent 10 work weekends or about 1,500 hours on the project.
