{"nrhp_refnum":"80000657","name":"Ponkapoag Camp of Appalachian Mountain Club","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Randolph","address_restricted":false,"city":"Randolph","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.192822114500075,"lon":-71.08703372436042,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A camp of log cabins at the east end of Ponkapoag Pond in the Blue Hills Reservation, Randolph, Massachusetts, built around 1920-1930 for the Appalachian Mountain Club on land owned by the Metropolitan District Commission.","why_significant":"The camp is one of the original camps of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the oldest outing club in the U.S., founded in 1876. Two chestnut log cabins built around 1922 survive in excellent condition and little altered. They represent an early outing club's architecture for \"roughing it\" and are increasingly important as similar structures are lost to fire, rot and vandalism.","narrative":"Ponkapoag Camp sits at the east end of Ponkapoag Pond within the Blue Hills Reservation in Randolph, Massachusetts. It was established as one of the original camps of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the oldest outing club in the United States, founded in 1876. Early in the twentieth century the club's president, William Rogers, who also served as a Metropolitan District Commission commissioner, set up tent sites here. Around 1922, when a dirt road was built into the camp, several chestnut log cabins were constructed. Two of them, built of cedar logs, remain in excellent condition and have been altered very little. The architect is unknown. Land at the camp is owned by the Metropolitan District Commission, and the cabins are still used for camping. They are valued as examples of the rustic architecture an early outing club used for roughing it, and as survivors among similar structures that have often been lost to fire, rot and vandalism.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Log cabin","criteria":[],"status_note":"Cabins remain in excellent condition and very little altered; present use is camping.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.677811-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/96/7926/63792696/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000657.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000657/19db53114c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000657/19db53114c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ponkapoag_AMC_FolsomCabin.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ponkapoag_AMC_FolsomCabin.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792696","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponkapoag_Camp_of_Appalachian_Mountain_Club","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7227869"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/ponkapoag-camp-of-appalachian-mountain-club-80000657/"}