Lake Willoughby

Lake Willoughby
Looking south from above north shore of Lake Willoughby, with Mt. Pisgah distant left and Mount Hor distant right, courtesy of Nathaniel Broderick.
Lake Willoughby Lake Willoughby Show map of VermontShow map of the United StatesShow all
Location	Orleans County, Vermont, United States
Coordinates	44°45′07″N 72°03′46″W�� / 44.75194°N 72.06278°W / 44.75194; -72.06278Coordinates: 44°45′07″N 72°03′46″W / 44.75194°N 72.06278°W / 44.75194; -72.06278
Type	glacial lake (ice age)
Primary inflows	glacial aquifer.
Primary outflows	Willoughby River (creek)
Catchment area	Lake Memphramagog, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Atlantic Ocean
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	5 miles (8.0 km)
Max. width	1 mile (1.6 km)
Surface area	1,687 acres (683 ha)
Average depth	185 feet (56 m)
Max. depth	328 ft (100 m)
Surface elevation	1,171 ft (357 m)[1]
U.S. National Natural Landmark
Designated	1967

Lake Willoughby is a lake in the town of Westmore in Orleans County in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, United States.

The lake's southern end is surrounded by the Willoughby State Forest. This state forest includes Mount Pisgah, Mount Hor, collectively "Willoughby Gap".

The lake is about 5 miles (8.0 km) long

In 2010, Yankee magazine named Willoughby as the third best lake in New England.^[2]

Willoughby Lake has a public beach that stretches 0.4 kilometres (0.25 mi) on the north shore of the lake, or in the zone of the lake outlet. Another public beach is located at the bottom of the South Bay of the Lake. The village of Westmore is located on the east side, at the confluence area of Mill Creek which drains the waters of Long Pond. Many cottages and houses are located on North-East bank of the lake.

Hydrology[]

The lake is known for its clarity and chilly temperature.^[3] Because of its depth, the surface of the lake freezes later than other lakes in the Northeast Kingdom.^[4]

Watershed[]

Willoughby Lake is part of the Saint-François River watershed, its waters eventually reaching the St. Lawrence River in Canada. Willoughby River is the outlet from the lake and runs north through Brownington to feed into the Barton River. The Barton River is tributary to Lake Memphremagog and thence to the Magog River, then the Saint-François River, then the St. Lawrence River, and ultimately to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Prior to the floods of 1927, the river had three dams. All were destroyed by the flood. An iron bridge that ran from Evansville to Brownington Center was destroyed and rebuilt.^[5]

A dam where the Whetstone Dam had formerly stood, was rebuilt to run a sawmill, which was still in operation in 2008. The "state Fish and Game Department" bought the dam rights to allow rainbow trout to swim upriver.^[5]

Geology[]

A view from the north end of the lake shows Mount Pisgah (left) and Mount Hor rising up above the surface.

Lake Willoughby is a southeast trending basin. Willoughby is a glacial lake over 320 feet (98 m) deep in places, the deepest lake entirely contained in the state and second to only Lake Champlain whose deepest point reaches 400 feet (120 m). Lake Willoughby resembles a Norwegian fjord.

The rock between Mount Pisgah on the east and Mount Hor on the west was eroded by a valley ice lobe. This ice flow cut across the Willoughby granodiorite and adjacent metamorphic rocks. The ice flow may have exploited highly fractured bedrock along the margin of the Willoughby pluton or joint surfaces within the pluton.^[6]

Other mountains in territory of Westmore, Vermont are on:

• East bank: (high: 652 metres (2,139 ft)), (high: 873 metres (2,864 ft)), (high: 1,003 metres (3,291 ft)), (high: 794 metres (2,605 ft)) and (high: 733 metres (2,405 ft));
• West bank: (high: 711 metres (2,333 ft)) in Caledonia County, (high: 563 metres (1,847 ft)), (high: 623 metres (2,044 ft));
• South bank: (high: 621 metres (2,037 ft)) in Caledonia County.

Natural history[]

Willoughby is listed as a National Natural Landmark.^[7][8] Willoughby contains rainbow trout (wild and stocked), lake trout, landlocked Atlantic salmon (mainly stocked), rainbow smelt, burbot, yellow perch, longnose sucker, white sucker, lake chub, common shiner, and round whitefish which is a native species of extremely limited distribution in Vermont. Steelhead trout (rainbow trout) are not native to the region, but were imported to Lake Memphremagog from the Pacific Northwest. They migrate up the Barton River and Willoughby River to the lake to spawn.^[9]

The sheer cliffs of Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor provide an environment conducive for arctic and cliff-alpine plants, as well as ideal nesting areas for the rare peregrine falcon.^[10]

More than 100 bird species have been recorded around the lake including thrushes, warblers, hummingbirds, jays, finches, loons, herons and gulls.^[11]

History[]

Tiny steam boats operated on the lake for tourists from 1884 to the early 1900s when steam was replaced by the gasoline engine.^[12]

In 1915, Robert Frost mentioned the lake in a poem, "A Servant to Servants,
"I see it's a fair, pretty sheet of water,
Our Willoughby! How did you hear of it?
I expect, though, everyone's heard of it.
In a book about ferns? Listen to that!"^[13][14]

Toponymy[]

The toponym "lake Willoughby" was officially recognized on September 1, 1992, by GNIS (Geographic Names Information System) of United States.^[15]

Local customs and culture[]

Devil's Rock, located on the Mount Pisgah side of the lake at a less than halfway point from the lake's southern beach, is a popular diving spot for daring locals and vacationers.^[16] It takes its name from a painted image of a devil on the front of the rock facing out toward the lake. It is also called Devil's Rock because when reflected in still water, the image of a skull lying on its side can be seen.

Along the eastern shore, there are a series of natural waterslides that flow into Lake Willoughby.^[17] In the winter, these turn into an ice wall which is used by ice climbers.^[18]

Economy[]

Lake facilities offer swimming, hiking, and ice fishing. There is a nude beach on the lake's southern shore.^[19] Surrounding the Willoughby Lake, there are some campgrounds and cottage rental services for tourists. The Route 5A runs along the lake's eastern edge.

See also[]

• Willoughby River
• Westmore, Vermont, a municipality
• Orleans County, Vermont

Footnotes[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lake Willoughby.

• Lake Willoughby Depth Chart
• Basin 17 Lake Memphremagog Watershed Assessment Report. Retrieved August 7, 2011.