Appalachian Mountain Club

{{Short description|U.S. non-profit organization}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox organization | name = Appalachian Mountain Club | native_name = | logo = 100px | logo_alt = Appalachian Mountain Club logo | image = File:Roughan_Hall_Boston_MA.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = AMC headquarters in Charlestown, MA | map = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | abbreviation = AMC | predecessor = | merged_into = | successor = | formation = {{start date|1876|df=y}} | founder = Edward Charles Pickering | extinction =  | merger = | type = Non-governmental organization | tax_id = 04-6001677<ref name=CharityNav /> | registration_id =  | status = 501(c)(3) charitable organization<ref name=CharityNav /> | purpose = Environmental quality, protection, and beautification<ref name=CharityNav /> | headquarters = 10 City Square, Boston, Massachusetts<ref name="contact">{{Cite web |url=http://outdoors.org/about/contact.cfm |title=Contact Us |website=outdoors.org |publisher=Appalachian Mountain Club |language=en |access-date=5 October 2017}}</ref> | location = | coordinates = {{coord|42.3723|-71.0616|display=inline,title}} | region_served = Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic United States | services = Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs<ref name="CharityNav">{{Cite web |url=http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.irs&ein=046001677#.U_vx-fldXmc |title=Charity Navigator - Appalachian Mountain Club |website=Charity Navigator |access-date=26 August 2014}}</ref> | membership = {{Steady}} 425,000 members, advocates, and supporters<ref name=990-2022 /> | num_members_year = 2022 | language = | owner =  | secretary_general = | leader_title = President and CEO | leader_name = Nicole Zussman<ref name="leadership">"[https://www.outdoors.org/about/leadership-and-financials/ Staff and Chapter Leadership]". ''Appalachian Mountain Club''. Retrieved on December 14, 2016.</ref> | leader_title2 = Chair of the Board of Directors | leader_name2 = Yvette Austin Smith<ref name= leadership/> | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | board_of_directors = | key_people = | publication = ''Appalachia'' | parent_organization = | subsidiaries = AMC Maine Woods Initiative, LLC AMC Ore Mountain, LLC AMC MW Funding, LLC KI-Jo Mary, Inc. Environmental Insurance Agency, Inc.<ref name=990-2022/> | secessions = | affiliations = | budget = | revenue = {{Increase}} $51,955,587<ref name=990-2022>"[https://cdn.outdoors.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/15100734/2022-Form-990-Open-to-Public-Inspection-Copy.pdf Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax]". ''Appalachian Mountain Club''. 11 November 2023.</ref> | revenue_year = 2022 | disbursements = | expenses = {{IncreaseNegative}} $34,854,845<ref name=990-2022/> | expenses_year = 2022 | endowment = {{Decrease}} $87,548,042<ref name=990-2022/> | endowment_year = 2022 | num_staff = {{Increase}} 755<ref name="990-2022" /> | num_staff_year = 2022 | num_volunteers = {{Steady}} 5,000<ref name=990-2022/> | num_volunteers_year = 2022  | website = {{URL|Outdoors.org}} | remarks = | former_name = | footnotes = }}

The '''Appalachian Mountain Club''' ('''AMC''') is the oldest outdoor group in the United States.<ref name="AMCFactSheet">{{Cite web |last=Woodstock |first=Mailing Address: 54 Elm Street |last2=Us |first2=VT 05091 Phone: 802-457-3368 x0 Contact |title=Conservation Timeline 1801-1900 - Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/mabi/learn/historyculture/conservation-timeline-1801-1900.htm |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> Created in Boston in 1876 to explore and conserve New Hampshire's White Mountains, it has expanded throughout the Northeastern United States with 12 chapters stretching from Maine to the District of Columbia. While the AMC no longer publishes their membership numbers, in 2024 they reported 65,729 people connected to the outdoors<ref name="2016AnnRep">{{Cite web |title=Appalachian Mountain Club 2024 Year in Review |url=https://cdn.outdoors.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/16151148/AMC_InReview2024_NoDonors.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251225143003/https://cdn.outdoors.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/16151148/AMC_InReview2024_NoDonors.pdf |archive-date=2025-12-25 |access-date=2025-12-25 |website=Outdoors.org |publisher=Appalachian Mountain Club}}</ref> through a mix of outdoor recreation, particularly hiking and backpacking, with a focus on environmental activism. Additional activities include cross-country skiing, whitewater and flatwater canoeing and kayaking, sea kayaking, sailing, rock climbing and bicycle riding. The club has about 2,700 volunteers, who lead roughly 7,000 trips and activities per year. The organization publishes a number of books, guides, and trail maps.

==History== thumb|left|AMC's former headquarters at 5 Joy Street, Boston, Massachusetts.

Appalachian Mountain Club was organized in 1876, incorporated in 1878, and authorized by legislative act of 1894 to hold mountain and forest lands as historic sites.<ref name="nie">{{NIE|wstitle=Appalachian Mountain Club|year=1905|inline=1}}</ref> The club was formed by the efforts of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Edward Charles Pickering and Samuel Hubbard Scudder,<ref>Leach, William (2013) [https://books.google.com/books?id=tQDTyf_-zuQC&pg=PA48 ''Butterfly People: An American Encounter with the Beauty of the World''] Pantheon Books {{ISBN|9780375422935}}</ref> who invited fellow Boston academics and vacationers to form a group interested in mountain exploration. The club aims to preserve the beauty of mountain forests, waters, historic sites and resorts; to render them attractive to visitors and excursionists; to publish accurate maps thereof; and to collect scientific data concerning the mountains.<ref name=nie/><ref name="ea">{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Appalachian Mountain Club}}</ref> The group helped map the White Mountains and in 1888 built the first of eight High Huts in the range, modeled on Alpine shelters.

Though it's the oldest mountain club in America, the AMC was preceded by the Rocky Mountain Club (1875), White Mountain Club (1873), the Alpine Club of Williamstown (1863), and The Exploring Circle (1850). Each of these were short-lived organizations.<ref name="Ramble On: A History of Hiking">Doran, Jeffrey J. (2026), ''Ramble On: A History of Hiking'', {{ISBN|979-8278259275}}</ref>

In 2003, Appalachian Mountain Club purchased {{convert|37000|acres}} of land east of Moosehead Lake and southwest of Baxter State Park, along the 100-Mile Wilderness portion of the Appalachian Trail, as part of their Maine Woods Initiative. It has converted the Katahdin Iron Works portion of the purchase to a nature preserve, logged a portion, and runs a sporting camp called Little Lyford Pond camps about two miles (3 km) off the trail. The Club purchased an adjacent {{convert|4300|acres}}, including Baker Mountain, in 2015,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Axelson |first=Gustave |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/travel/maine-mt-baker-hiking.html |title=Bushwhacking Up Maine's Baker Mountain |date=13 April 2016 |work=The New York Times |access-date=15 August 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sarnacki |first=Aislinn |url=https://bangordailynews.com/2015/03/06/outdoors/group-preserves-baker-mountain-surrounding-land-in-2-4-million-purchase/ |title=Group preserves Baker Mountain, surrounding land in $2.4 million purchase |date=6 March 2015 |work=Bangor Daily News |access-date=15 August 2018}}</ref> and is considering purchasing more sporting camps in the vicinity.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jermanok |first=Stephen |url=https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/09/24/delicate_terrain/ |title=Delicate Terrain |date=2006-09-24 |work=The Boston Globe Magazine |access-date=2006-09-24 |publisher=The Boston Globe}}</ref>

In 2011, the Appalachian Mountain Club opened the newly built Gorman Chairback Lodge.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gorman Chairback Lodge & Cabins {{!}} AMC|url=https://www.outdoors.org/lodging-camping/lodges/gorman|access-date=2020-07-20|website=Appalachian Mountain Club|language=en-US}}</ref>

In September 2016, the Appalachian Mountain Club sold their Joy Street headquarters to a group of real estate investors for $15 million, who planned to turn the 22,000 square feet of office space on Beacon Hill into residential units.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Adams |first=Dan |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/09/26/appalachian-mountain-club-sells-beacon-hill-headquarters-for-million/9A1Y8NYzxfoYkaRZbdy7uI/story.html |title=Appalachian Mountain Club sells Beacon Hill headquarters for $15m |date=2016-09-26 |work=The Boston Globe |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref> In December 2016, The Appalachian Mountain Club purchased Roughan Hall in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston,<ref name="roughan">{{Cite news |url=http://www.outdoors.org/articles/newsroom/new-headquarters/ |title=Appalachian Mountain Club Opens New Boston Headquarters |date=18 September 2017 |work=AMC Outdoors |access-date=28 September 2017 |publisher=Appalachian Mountain Club}}</ref> and moved their headquarters there in September 2017.<ref name="citysquare">{{Cite press release |title=Appalachian Mountain Club Opens New Boston Headquarters |date=18 September 2017 |publisher=Appalachian Mountain Club |url=http://www.outdoors.org/articles/newsroom/new-headquarters/ |access-date=28 September 2017 |work=AMC Outdoors}}</ref>

In 2022, the AMC purchased another {{convert|27000|acres}} adjacent to their previous holdings near the 100 Mile Wilderness, bringing the total to over {{convert|100000|acres}} of contiguous land.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fleming |first=Deirdre |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2022/08/30/appalachian-mountain-club-purchases-27000-acres-near-the-100-mile-wilderness/ |title=Appalachian Mountain Club purchases 27,000 acres in Moosehead Lake region |date=31 August 2022 |work=Portland Press Herald |access-date=31 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

== Organization == Appalachian Mountain Club's headquarters is located in Roughan Hall at 10 City Square in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, with an adjunct facility at 6 Spice St.<ref name=citysquare />

Appalachian Mountain Club employed 755 individuals in 2022.<ref name=990-2022/> AMC estimated that 5,000 individuals volunteered for the organization in 2022.<ref name=990-2022/>

In 2022, the Appalachian Mountain Club earned over $14.7 million from its outdoor program centers, educational activities, membership dues, trail activities, and advertising.<ref name=990-2022/> Sale of products netted over $1.2 million, rental income netted a loss of $0.6 million, investment income was over $2.2 million, and charitable contributions and grants received were almost $30.3 million.<ref name=990-2022/>

Appalachian Mountain Club has twelve chapters located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. The largest chapter is the Boston chapter, with over 20,000 members,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://amcboston.org/|title=AMC Boston Chapter - AMC Boston Chapter|date=28 June 2021|website=amcboston.org|accessdate=4 December 2022}}</ref> followed by the New Hampshire chapter with over 12,000 members,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://amcnh.org/|title=Home|website=AMC NH Chapter|accessdate=4 December 2022}}</ref> and the New York-North Jersey chapter with over 10,000 members.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://amc-ny.org/|title=Home|website=The New York - North Jersey Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club|accessdate=4 December 2022}}</ref>

== Activities ==

=== The High Huts === {{Main|High Huts of the White Mountains}}Appalachian Mountain Club owns and maintains a series of eight mountain huts in the White Mountains. Modeled after similar shelters in the Alps, the various huts hold between 36 and 90 people. Hikers may reserve bunks for a fee; at most huts dinner and breakfast are included.

The huts' 30-year special use permits were renewed by the U.S. Forest Service in 1999 following a four-year process that included an environmental impact statement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/09/24/delicate_terrain/|title=Delicate Terrain - The Boston Globe|website=archive.boston.com|access-date=4 December 2022}}</ref>

thumb|Greenleaf Hut {| class="wikitable" |+List of High Huts Owned and Operated by Appalachian Mountain Club !Hut Name !Location !Elevation (feet) |- |Lonesome Lake Hut |Franconia Notch State Park |2,775 |- |Greenleaf Hut |Below the summit of Mount Lafayette |4,200 |- |Galehead Hut |Between South Twin and Galehead Mountains |3,775 |- |Zealand Falls Hut |In Zealand Notch |2,635 |- |Mizpah Spring Hut |Between Mount Pierce and Mount Jackson |3,783 |- |Lakes of the Clouds Hut |Below the summit of Mount Monroe |5,014 |- |Madison Spring Hut |Between Mount Adams and Mount Madison |4,795 |- |Carter Notch Hut |In Carter Notch |3,288 |}

=== Campsites and shelters === The Appalachian Mountain Club also operates many campsites and shelters in the White Mountains, the Mahoosucs, and other New England locations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.outdoors.org/lodging-camping/lodging-camping-campsites |title=Backcountry Camping Sites in the Northeast |website=outdoors.org |publisher=Appalachian Mountain Club |access-date=29 January 2018}}</ref> These campsites are often run by caretakers who manage waste, fees, and nearby trails. Nine of the highest use campsites have a $15 per person fee: Kinsman Pond, Liberty Spring, Garfield Ridge, 13 Falls, Guyot, Ethan Pond, Nauman, Imp, and Speck Pond.

thumb|AMC Fall Foliage Trip in the Adirondacks

=== Activities === The majority of the AMC's activities are conducted by its members who volunteer to lead trips throughout the northeast, from Maine to DC. Activities include hiking, backpacking, paddling, biking, rock climbing, camping, skiing, and snowshoeing, ranging in duration from a day to a week. Additional long-duration domestic and international trips are conducted through the AMC's Adventure Travel program.

=== Trails === The club also operates several trails operations. The Volunteer for Trails program brings teens and adults on day to week long programs teaching trail building and maintenance techniques based out of Camp Dodge in Pinkham Notch.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.outdoors.org/volunteer/trails |title=Trails |website=outdoors.org |publisher=Appalachian Mountain Club |access-date=29 January 2018}}</ref> The Roving Conservation Crew is a small crew which works on both backcountry and frontcountry projects around New England. The White Mountain Professional Trail Crew focuses on trail projects within the White Mountains, and the Maine Woods Professional Crew focuses on projects in Maine.

=== The Four Thousand Footer Club === A committee of Appalachian Mountain Club administers the Four Thousand Footer Club. Anyone who has climbed to and from each of the 48 New Hampshire Four-thousand footers is eligible to apply for membership to the club. Members are given a patch and new inductees are invited to attend a yearly celebration dinner. The Four Thousand Footer Club also recognizes individuals who complete the New England Four Thousand Footers (of which there are 67) and the New England Hundred Highest.

=== Publications === ''Appalachia'', the club journal, has been published since 1876.<ref name="Digital Appalachia">{{cite web |title=Appalachia |url=https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia/ |website=Dartmouth Digital Commons |publisher=Dartmouth College}}</ref> Books relating to subjects such as mountaineering and touring trips are published under the auspices of the society.<ref name=nie/>

==National Register of Historic Places== The club's Ponkapoag Camp is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == {{Commons category-inline}} * {{official website|http://www.outdoors.org/}} * [http://hikethewhites.com/photos/hut_map.gif A map of the hut system from south to north]

Category:Appalachian Mountain Club Category:501(c)(3) organizations Category:Appalachian Trail Category:Charities based in Massachusetts Category:Climbing and mountaineering organizations Category:Environmental charities Category:Hiking organizations in the United States Category:Sports organizations established in 1876 Category:1876 establishments in the United States