diff --git a/lib/vagrant.rb b/lib/vagrant.rb
index af9ad2263..992168cf5 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant.rb
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ module Vagrant
   autoload :Guest,         'vagrant/guest'
   autoload :Hosts,         'vagrant/hosts'
   autoload :Machine,       'vagrant/machine'
+  autoload :MachineState,  'vagrant/machine_state'
   autoload :Plugin,        'vagrant/plugin'
   autoload :TestHelpers,   'vagrant/test_helpers'
   autoload :UI,            'vagrant/ui'
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/machine_state.rb b/lib/vagrant/machine_state.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9dcfffa3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/vagrant/machine_state.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+module Vagrant
+  # This represents the state of a given machine. This is a very basic
+  # class that simply stores a short and long description of the state
+  # of a machine.
+  #
+  # The state also stores a state "id" which ca be used as a unique
+  # identifier for a state. This should be a symbol. This allows internal
+  # code to compare state such as ":not_created" instead of using
+  # string comparison.
+  #
+  # The short description should be a single word description of the
+  # state of the machine such as "running" or "not created".
+  #
+  # The long description can span multiple lines describing what the
+  # state actually means.
+  class MachineState
+    # Unique ID for this state.
+    #
+    # @return [Symbol]
+    attr_reader :id
+
+    # Short description for this state.
+    #
+    # @return [String]
+    attr_reader :short_description
+
+    # Long description for this state.
+    #
+    # @return [String]
+    attr_reader :long_description
+
+    # Creates a new instance to represent the state of a machine.
+    #
+    # @param [Symbol] id Unique identifier for this state.
+    # @param [String] short Short (preferably one-word) description of
+    #   the state.
+    # @param [String] long Long description (can span multiple lines)
+    #   of the state.
+    def initialize(id, short, long)
+      @id                = id
+      @short_description = short
+      @long_description  = long
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/unit/vagrant/machine_state_test.rb b/test/unit/vagrant/machine_state_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7b40fd720
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/vagrant/machine_state_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+require "pathname"
+
+require File.expand_path("../../base", __FILE__)
+
+describe Vagrant::MachineState do
+  include_context "unit"
+
+  let(:id) { :some_state }
+  let(:short) { "foo" }
+  let(:long) { "I am a longer foo" }
+
+  it "should give access to the id" do
+    instance = described_class.new(id, short, long)
+    instance.id.should == id
+  end
+
+  it "should give access to the short description" do
+    instance = described_class.new(id, short, long)
+    instance.short_description.should == short
+  end
+
+  it "should give access to the long description" do
+    instance = described_class.new(id, short, long)
+    instance.long_description.should == long
+  end
+end