 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
History
of the Willoughby Cliffs Natural Area
Early History | The Lake House | Arcadia Retreat | The Boulders
Early History
Excerpted from:"Willoughby Lake Legends and Legacies," Harriet F. Fisher. Academy Books, Rutland, Vermont. Copyright © 1988.
Reprinted with permission of the author.
How did Willoughby Lake get its name? One story is that two brothers named Willoughby, early settlers of Westmore, gave the lake their name. But there is no one by that name listed among the settlers in the town records. Neither does the name Willoughby appear in the list of Westmore proprietors in Abby Maria Hemenway's 1877 Gazetteer. However, it must be remembered that the settlers temporarily abandoned Westmore about the time the 1812 war broke out, so there were a few years when no town records were kept.
Another story is that many years ago a man named Willoughby was crossing the ice with a horse-drawn sled. When the horses broke through, Willoughby and his driver were drowned, and the lake was called Willoughby in his memory.
The 1854 Northern Tourist, Or Guide to Willoughby Lake House, Bemis, Hall & Co., Proprietors, tells this story: "It [the lake] is said by the inhabitants to have been first discovered by an English hunter from Canada, with one companion. In endeavoring to clear away a small spot of trees and brushwood on the shore in order to erect a cabin, Willoughby wounded his foot near the ankle [sic] and bled to death. The unfortunate man left to the Lake the legacy of his name."
A more modern story appeared in the Caledonian-Record (clipping undated). A visitor to St. Johnsbury who stopped at the info booth on Main Street said he had the "true" story behind the name Lake Willoughby. The Caledonian reported this: "The tourist, Francis Willoughby Jonas, lives in Salem, Mass., and is affiliated with the CBS television network in Boston. His great-grandmother, he stated, was a wealthy English peeress who moved to Castleton, VT, in the early part of the 19th century. As time went on Lady Willoughby, because of her prim, religious [sic] living, became one of the best-loved persons in the area. Thus she was immortalized with the naming of one of Vermont's beautiful landmarks, often called 'the Lucerne of America.'"
Years ago Annie R. French wrote the story which seems most likely to be true. Mrs. French said the lake was named for the Willoughby brothers who held first title to lake shore property, even though their names do not appear in town records. They operated an extensive lumber mill near what is now the site of the Boulders. (They were succeeded by the Vermont Lumber Company which went out of business some time ago.)
Mt. Pisgah has been referred to as Mt. Annance (also Annanance and Annennence). In his Flora of Vermont George C. Kennedy refers to a St. Francis Indian chief named Annance. A story, "Two Trips to Lake Willoughby" in an 1854 Knickerbocker Magazine mentions "the higher of the two mountains called 'Annennence' after a great aboriginal chief who once made it his home." Long-time Willoughby observer Norman Atwood tells us of a "civilized Indian" named Louis Annance, of Lancaster, New Hampshire, who in summer "lived after the old ways" (fishing and hunting) and may have enjoyed fishing at Willoughby.
In the Bible Mount Pisgah is the place where the Lord sent Moses to view the Promised Land; he died in the land of Moab near that mountain. Aaron died at Mount Hor after the Lord commanded him to go there. (Deuteronomy 34:1, and Numbers 33:38).
If the Willoughby brothers did name the lake, perhaps they decided to call the mountains Pisgah and Hor because of two other brothers - Moses and Aaron.
The Northern Tourist says: "From the summit of Mount Annance, on the east, is spread out before the eye, a prospect scarcely less extended and enchanting than that exhibited to the view of the Hebrew lawgiver [Moses] from the top of ancient Pisgah." After 1854, when Bemis's Lake House was so popular, perhaps the proprietor viewed the area as the "promised land" and thought the name "Pisgah" more fitting. The Indian chief would have been long gone, but the name Annance is still not completely forgotten.
When Alonzo Bemis built his "elegant and commodious" Lake House, near the foot of Pisgah, he made a trail to the top. Trained horses were always ready to make the ascent, and ladies could ride to the top in perfect safety. In Bemis's 1854 Northern Tourist, there is mention of an observatory on the summit of "Mt. Annance."
Francis Richardson, who took over the Lake House in 1879, built a bridle path on Mt. Pisgah, shorter than the one made by Bemis years before, but its location on the west side commanded charming views of the lake and surrounding scenery. In 1880 Richardson and a crew of men cut a road which extended a quarter of a mile beyond the summit. He had discovered an even finer view from there.
Years later, when Amory and Clemma Seaver ran Pisgah Lodge, probably about 1920, Darrell Hoyt, who was working there, helped cut a trail near the old Lake House barns; this trail led into the trail to Pisgah Mountain.
Editor Charles M. Chase of the Vermont Union wrote in September, 1880: "As we could not wait for this road to be completed, we pushed on through the most impenetrable underbrush, over logs and stones to the goal and were well paid for our efforts by the grand and awful sublimity of the scene. From this point we could see Owl's Head, Jay Peak, Mount Mansfield, Franconia Notch, and the Green Mt. Range, Lake Memphremagog, etc. At several places the rock juts out several feet from the side of the mountain affording a fine opportunity for those who have steady nerves and cool heads to get a splendid view of the rough side of the mountain, not otherwise obtainable. I cannot begin to portray the beauty of this lovely sheet of water, nor the awful grandeur of the towering cliffs above it. To be appreciated, they must be seen."
In the early days of Westmore, sometime prior to 1850, Peter Gilman built a tavern a little south of the village. In those days, there was no road along the lake. The county road came through Burke Hollow to Newark and on to East Charleston; Westmore was reached by a road that ran westward from the county road.
Now that Westmore was well settled there was a need for a road north and south through the town, a road which would make a connecting route from the Passumpsic Valley to the Charleston road. Several times Peter Gilman represented Westmore in the legislature. His attempts to obtain state aid for this project failed, so he worked on a plan whereby the road could be built with private subscriptions from businessman interested in a route between Canada and Lyndon. In this he also failed.
The only feasible way to build a road north and south in Westmore was along the lake shore. The expense of building a road in such difficult terrain was more than Westmore could bear. But the demand was so great that finally, in 1850, the county court appointed commissioners to lay out a road and assess some of the towns north and south of Westmore to help raise the money. Peter Gilman was contracted to build it.
Because Mt. Pisgah's cliffs ran down so close to the lake, this was an arduous task. A big outcrop of ledge just north of the watering trough came right down to the water, so a bridge was built around it. The bridge overhung the water like a shelf and was called the "Plank Bridge." This ledge has long since been blasted out. Swampy conditions forced Gilman to build corduroy road (logs laid crossways) part of the way. Before the road was finished the appropriations ran out. Gilman fulfilled his contract anyway, using his own money though he went broke doing so. Perhaps he thought the road would bring more business to his tavern. The road made it easier and shorter to reach Westmore village from the south. Travelers could also come by train to West Burke, by stage to Willoughby Lake, by steamer to the village at the northern end of the lake, then by stage to catch the train again in Newport - or do this in reverse.
In 1846 the Knickerbocker writer took the first of his two trips to Willoughby Lake. He tells of rowing along the east shore for some time before discovering a practical landing. "Here", he said, "we climb over the debris which centuries have accumulated on the edge of the water . . . Our boatman tells of a projected road through the chasm and that thousands have already been expended without 'making a beginning.' Looking at the impassable nature of the route, we pronounce the project utterly visionary."
Gilman proved him wrong. During the Knickerbocker writer's second visit in 1854 he noticed that great changes had taken place since his first trip. "Farms were spread and in fine cultivation where six years before flourished the tangled forest; a fine carriage road skirted the water upon the northern side, winding along under the cliffs, through the very route we had deemed so impracticable; and lastly a fine, large, piazzaed hotel [the Lake House] had exhaled from the primitive wilderness, from the roof of which, floated a broad gonfalon." He was surprised on entering the Lake House to find, on the reading table, the day's morning papers from Boston and New York. He was impressed with all that had transpired since his first visit.
Gilman's old carriage road has become a state highway (VT 5A). It has been widened, paved and built up much higher. The only time modern traffic is slowed, unless one slows for the view, is when boulders or rock slides come down the mountain, blocking the road or crushing it with the immense force of tons of stone.