Hut Point Discovery Hut Ross Island

Hut Point sits at the tip of the peninsula that McMurdo Station now occupies, and the Discovery Hut built here in 1902 is the oldest standing structure on Ross Island. Robert Falcon Scott and his crew used it as a shore base during the Discovery Expedition, and it later served Shackleton’s Nimrod party and Scott’s doomed Terra Nova team. The hut is small, drafty, and still smells faintly of the seal blubber and old provisions left behind — the Antarctic Heritage Trust has preserved it in near-original condition. A cross on the ridge above marks the grave of petty officer George Vince, lost to a blizzard in 1902.

Access is overland from McMurdo Station — roughly a kilometer on foot across the point. The Antarctic Heritage Trust manages the site and entry requires coordination through the station. Sea ice conditions and permit requirements through your national program apply. Do not touch or disturb anything inside.

Oldest hut on Ross Island. Still smells like 1902.