Lake Saint Catherine

Lake Saint Catherine is an 852acre body of water located in Rutland County, Vermont in the towns of Wells and Poultney. Lake St. Catherine State Park is located along its eastern shore.History Of Lake St. CatherineHistory of Lake St. CatherineFrom "A Natural Resource Planning Study of Wells, Vermont" Prepared by Raymond Lobdell, February, 1975."Lake St. Catherine is a large, long lake of 930 acres which begins at the Lily Pond in Poultney and drains south into Wells. The lake has a maximum depth of 68 feet, an average depth of 32.2 feet, and a volume of" 29,945acre.ft. "It is about five miles long and drains into a narrow channel which connects it with Little Pond."Little Pond is a shallow lake of about 181 acres, with an average depth of two feet, a maximum depth of only four feet and a volume of" 362acre.ft. "The lake bottom is covered by a thick layer of silt and organic matter."From "Lake St. Catherine: A Historical Scrapbook" Complied by Iris Hopson Read Copyright: 1979No one knows for sure how Lake St. Catherine got its name. To the early settlers the waters were simply Wells Pond or Lake Austin, also a term of uncertain origin but thought to have come from a family by that name at the North End. In Thompson's Vermont Gazetter, the lake is called St. Augustine and at least on one old map so designates it, while others, including Mitchell's Universal Atlas of 1854, give "Lake Austin". Some people think that the more familiar "Austin" is a contraction of Augustine.In 1869, Hiland Paul, the local historian, wrote "We are of the opinion that the name St. Catherine as applied to this lake is of New York origin, as the oldest inhabitants of the town, who are over eighty years of age, do not remember of hearing it called otherwise than Lake Austin or Lake St. Austin."