Lake Bomoseen

by Ben Calvi

Lake Bomoseen is the biggest body of water contained wholly in Vermont, stretching almost nine miles long and one mile across. It is also the most prominent lake in the area known as the Lakes Region, which extends from Lake Dunmore south to Lake St. Catherine. It is roughly divided into four parts: the north end, the main lake, the south end, and the channel. Many small tributaries-as well as Glenn Lake to the west-flow into Bomoseen. The lake flows south through the channel and the hydroelectric damn in Hydeville, into the Castleton River and finally into the southern Lake Champlain Basin. It is a fairly shallow lake, only 65 feet at its deepest, and is therefore quite warm for swimmers and wildlife alike. Some of the lake's most prominent natural features include Neshobe and Rabbit islands, the Cedar Mountain Slate Quarry, and three public beaches. I am not sure what the Abenaki-or the people before them-called this water, but in some of the state's earliest maps it first appeared as the Great Pond and then Castleton Pond. It was later called Lake Bombazine, which the current name Bomoseen is evidently derived.

The history of this landscape is similar to that of other places all across Vermont. As people first settled this land, loggers cleared and milled as much timber as they could. Farmers used the newly opened land for crops and pasture; miners dug for buried treasure-in this case, slate. And finally, people settled near water, along the highways close to town, making a living any way they knew how. By the middle of the 19th century, Rutland County and the town of Castleton were well established. The forests had been cleared, and farms surrounded the lake. Year after year, farmhouses grew older as summer cottages sprung up with increasing frequency-evidence of growth, wealth, and prosperity. And as the railroad and then the automobile were invented, Lake Bomoseen quickly became a place where many people came to vacation. Some of us came to Lake Bomoseen to build homes and families. Some came to log, farm, and quarry. We come now to visit and recreate. But no matter who we are, we have nothing except for what this land and water gives us. How do we forget this-and more importantly-how can we remember?

Driving down Route 30 from Middlebury, I see the north end of Bomoseen first. It is the quietest and least developed part of the lake. I turn right onto Floatbridge Road; the narrowest section of the lake-only a few hundred feet across-squeezes through here. In the 1800's, there was indeed a floating bridge across this bottleneck. Today, there is a sturdy metal and concrete crossing with only a name hinting of its past. Because this passage is so narrow, not much water is exchanged between the north end and the rest of the lake. Hence, fishermen come here year-round looking for bass, perch, trout, and pike. The water is muddy and full of weeds. This makes the north end less appealing to out-of-staters, so there is an assortment of year-round residences, state land, and undeveloped shoreline. In the fall, many come here to hunt waterfowl; the tall reeds and cattails are good for blind-making and cover. There is also plenty of food for the ducks and geese. In winter, the north end is the first part of the lake to freeze over. In December, before all of the snow comes to stay, it is the best part of the lake to skate. You can skate for hours over ice; it is as clear and smooth as glass. Looking down through the ice, you can see the vegetation and fish. But it is not good icefishing till the snow comes and hides your shadows from the fish below.

On the eastern shore of the lake from the bridge to the channel, every inch of the shoreline is divided up and developed. With the exception of Crystal Beach, the Lake House Pub and Grille, the Trackenseen Resort, the golf course, and Neshobe Beach, all of the lake's shore supports private homes and summer cottages. Route 30 follows the lake south, separating the summer homes on the waterfront from the old farmhouses up on the hills to the left. My extended family has cottages just north of the Trackenseen Resort, where the main lake meets the south end. The first people to build on the lake were farmers, but once slate was discovered there was better money to be had, and the successful few-such as my great grandfather-began to build summer homes on the lake.

Fair Haven and Castleton mark the transition between the Taconic Mountains to the south and the Champlain Valley to the North. The Taconic Mountains are composed almost entirely of slate, formed at the bottom of the ocean and then emplaced on top of the Champlain Valley sediments some 450 million years ago, during the Taconic Orogeny. This slate is relatively easy to quarry and is milled into some of the finest tile in the world. I am not proud of my family ties with slate; I am reminded how much quarrying damages the landscape every time I look across the lake to the abandoned Cedar Mountain Quarry and its heap of leftover slag pouring down to the water's edge. This immense slag pile is devoid of all life, except for a few maples that have somehow managed to push their way up through the rocks. Many consider the quarry's remains an eyesore, but some have learned to live with it as a reminder of what happens to the land when we take without giving back.

Looking from our yard across the water, to the left of the quarry I can see Neshobe Island. For many years it was simply called The Island, until the Rutland County Historical Society, on July, 4th 1881, named it Neshobe in honor of an Abenaki scout who helped Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys locate and defeat the New Yorkers as Vermont fought to become a state. I wonder if Neshobe himself would consider it an honor to be remembered in this way, since Ethan Allen and the rest of us Green Mountain folks have proved ourselves no friends of the Abenaki? Farther down from the island is Indian Point; for many years, even well into the 20th century, the Abenaki returned to this point to camp and summer next to the lake. There are Native American artifacts on this point, and there are even some out on the island where the natives canoed to visit, hunt and fish. Indian Point has long since been sold and converted into summer homes for people to relax and enjoy themselves. No one seems to know or remember where the Abenaki went after their land was taken and sold, though Neshobe Island has had many visitors since then. From 1920 to 1940, Alexander Wollcott, a famous New York drama critic, owned and developed the island; among his visitors were the Marx Brothers, Helen Hayes, Rebecca West, and Ruth Gordon. Today, a family from Argile, New York owns the island. We don't see them much except during summer and over the holidays.

The only other island on Bomoseen is Rabbit Island. On summer nights while growing on the lake, my family would frequently pile into the boat for midnight rides. The air was always cold, so we would curl under wool blankets and sleeping bags. We would hum quietly through the water. When going north, we always went around Rabbit Island, and every time we navigated its shores, we made our father tell us the story of how the island got its name. When we got close enough to see into the trees on the island, he would begin to speak. And no matter how sleepy we felt, we would perk up and peel our eyes towards the dark island in search of those big red eyes. I cannot remember if I ever saw them, but I know they must be there. Legend has it that the island got its name from the giant rabbits that live there. At the north end of the island, there is a narrow passage between the island and the mainland-just deep enough for a boat to get though, but much too wide for an ordinary rabbit to jump across. It is probably thirty feet from shore to the island. And every time we passed through it, I imagined the size of the rabbit it would take to make the long jump across. Once old enough to question things, I asked my father if ordinary rabbits could cross the ice in the winter. He smiled, but all he said was that they were afraid to cross because the coyotes and foxes could easily catch them. Though unsatisfied with his explanation at the time, I still look for those big red eyes on midnight rides around Rabbit Island.

To get to the other side of the lake I go to the Castleton Four Corners and turn west onto old Route 4. After I cross the bridge over the Castleton River, I turn north onto Creek Road to drive along the western shore of the lake. I see the Route 4 highway cross over the channel, but know I have to take the old road to get down to the lake. Nearby, the Hydeville Dam regulates the flow of the channel into the Castleton River. It's a small dam, so I do not imagine it makes very much electricity, though I guess it must be enough by some standards to stop the natural flow of this watershed. There are two marinas in the channel, the Lake Bomoseen and Woodard's Marina. Since Woodard's has been there much longer, most of the lake's residents service and store their boats there. Yet with the sharp increase of tourism in recent years, the newer Lake Bomoseen Marina has made a healthy business renting boats, jet-skies, and all of the water-sport gear you can imagine.

I drive north past the channel to the south end of the lake. The first place I come to is the Point of Pines. There used to be three hotels on this side of the lake, back when the tourists came west from the Hudson River on steamboat and then across from Albany by train. But the automobile and the highway system have long since made such hotels unnecessary. Today there are marinas, summer homes, and boating accesses. Up the hill to my left is the site of the Kehoe Conservation Camp, where I work in the summer to teach kids about hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation, and natural resources. There is a small beach on my right where we swim, fish, and put in our canoes. Across from this beach, on the other side of the bay is the sand bar. On hot summer days, boaters congregate there because there are no weeds to swim through, it is shallow enough to stand, and it is a good place to snorkel and dive for clams.

Farther north on Creek Road is Green Dump and the Bomoseen State Park. We call it Green Dump because this was where the quarries used to dump their slate into the water, and the black, green and purple slate with all of its chlorite dust made the water turn green. It is now an access where the public can put their boats into the water. Development stops north of the State Park, mainly because there is no road from the park along the shore north to Floatbridge Road. People come to the park to camp and to spend a day at the beach. There is a private road that goes a little further around the lake to the Cedar Mountain Quarry then ends. Besides the north end, this is the only other undeveloped shoreline of the lake. It offers all of us on the other shore a glimpse of the lake's natural beauty. The trees are mostly pine, hemlock and cedar, but there are some maple, birches, and other hardwoods as well. This view offers a picture perfect foreground for the sun to set behind. Sitting in a camp or on a lawn by the water, or looking up from dinner at the Lake House or the Trackenseen, the sun falls behind the western hills of Lake Bomoseen night after night.

This place has given me everything I have-stories, a family, a home. But I don't know how to give back. If telling its story is enough, then I'll try. But it is not a perfect story. Ever since we first got here, it has been taking without giving. Bomoseen gave first is trees, then its soil, its slate and then its shores. I'd like to think the lake itself is unharmed, but I know its waters are polluted by farms, houses, and motors, and it is now harboring more and more non-native species such as the Eurasian water milfoil and the zebra mussel. I worry that some day the north end will be completely developed, and I will no longer have a place to hunt or fish nearby. I worry that someday a new road will connect Floatbridge Road to Creek Road, allowing the only undeveloped shoreline of the main lake to be divided and built upon. I worry that someday we will poison the lake beyond repair, probably trying to eradicate the exotic species we brought here. But most of all, I worry that the only solution is another two miles of ice or two hundred meters of ocean.

I arrive home just in time for the sunset. I fidget with the digital camera until I figure out how it works and quickly run down our steps, across the lawn, and out onto the ice. I try to capture a few shots of the sunset, not knowing if the camera is working. But it doesn't really matter though because I'm home. I turn around and take a photo of the camps. My brother lets our dog out to chase me. I try to imagine this place at the bottom of an ocean where the water made slate. I try to imagine this place under two miles of ice as the glaciers carved out the space for these lakes to fill. I try to imagine this place surrounded by old growth forest, with the occasional Abenaki clearing for garden and home. But I can't. All I see is the familiar setting as if it has always been this way. From the snow-covered ice I look north towards Floatbridge and Rabbit Island, west towards the quarry, the State Park and Neshobe Island, and southwest over the golf course to the setting winter sun. I go inside for hot tea and a place to write. I search for answers with each click of the keyboard into the night. Too tired for thought, I retire to bed. I listen for the wind or the sound of making ice, but all I can hear is the heater and the refrigerator. I fall asleep knowing only that it is colder out there, and that Bomoseen will still be here long after I am gone.

Map of Lake Bomoseen

Directions from Middlebury: Drive South on Route 30 approximately 30 miles south to the north end of the Lake.

The North End: This undeveloped tressure is full of aquatic vegitation--mostly Eurasian milfoil--fish, wildlife, and very few summer homes.

Float Bridge: An actual floating bridge in the 1800's, now a sturdy and well traveled crossing, separationg the North End of Bomoseen from the Main Lake.

Ceder Mountain Slate Quarry: This abandoned quarry leaves its pile of unwanted slate falling right down to the water's edge. There were no roads to the quarry when it was active, so they barged the slate across the water by boat.

Neshobe Island: A solemn fishing shanty rests in front of Neshobe Island, barely distinguishable from the western shore.

Hydeville Dam: This samll, hydro-electric dam produces power for CVPS and also regulates the drainage of Lake Bomoseen into the Castleton River and the Southern Lake Champlain Watershed.

Woodard's Marina: The oldest of the two marinas on Bomoseen, Woodard's Marina services boats in the summer and stores them in the winter as seen above.

Green Dump: The piles of green slate on the water's edge give this place its name. Though its days as a dump are over, it is now used as an acess by the public.

Sunset over Bomoseen!