Crystal Lake is located near the village of Barton in

Orleans County, Vermont Orleans County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,393. Its shire town (county seat) is the city of Newport. The county was created in 1792 and organized in ...

, United States. It is a

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

lake and deep in places. Route 5 runs along the lake's western shore. Crystal Lake is in the northeastern section of the state of Vermont. The lake is owned by the state and managed by the Department of Environmental Conservation. Exotic species infestations are a concern, with an existing Eurasian

water milfoil ''Myriophyllum'' (water milfoil) is a genus of about 69 species of freshwater aquatic plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The centre of diversity for ''Myriophyllum'' is Australia with 43 recognized species (37 endemic). These submersed aq ...

population, which is being addressed. The lake is a coldwater fishery. Lake trout are native and the current population is wild. There are rainbow trout (wild and stocked), yellow perch, smallmouth bass, rock bass, pumpkinseed, chain pickerel, longnose suckers, white suckers, and various minnow species.

History

Rogers' Rangers Rogers' Rangers was a company of soldiers from the Province of New Hampshire raised by Major Robert Rogers and attached to the British Army during the French and Indian War. The unit was quickly adopted into the New England Colonies army as an i ...

were forced to retreat through the area following their attack on Saint-Francis, Quebec in 1759. The fleeing rangers split up before reaching Barton. One group followed the

Barton River The Barton River is a tributary of Lake Memphremagog, over long, in northern Vermont in the United States. It runs north from Glover through Barton, Brownington, Coventry and drains through Newport into Lake Memphremagog's South Bay. C ...

south to the falls at the outlet of Crystal Lake, where they were able to catch fish. From there, they continued south over the summit into the Passumpsic River Valley. In the 19th century, the lake was sometimes called "Belle Pond." Construction on a dam to enhance and control the lake was completed in 1860. It consists of concrete, stone, and masonry. The core is concrete. The foundation is rock, and soil. The height is by long. Maximum discharge is per second. The capacity is . Normal storage is . It drains an area of . ''Circa'' 1900, a granite quarry was located on the east side of the lake. Steamboats barged stone across to the west side. The lake has two parks at the northern end. The State Park was started by the

CCC CCC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * CCC, the production code for the 1970 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Ambassadors of Death'' * Color Climax Corporation, a Danish pornography producer * Comics Campaign Council, a British pressure grou ...

during the Depression, but not completed until the 1940s. It is at the northwestern edge. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

August 30, 2005. Adjacent to the state park, at the northeastern end, is Pageant Park, the

Barton, Vermont Barton is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,872 at the 2020 census. The town includes two incorporated villages, Barton and Orleans. Approximately a quarter of the town's population lives in each of th ...

town park.

History

Footnotes

External links

See also