Lake Willoughby, Vermont, in Autumn Photo Print

"Lake Willoughby, Vermont, in Autumn" by Catherine Sherman. "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." Robert Frost, 1925, "A Servant to Servants" poem. Lake Willoughby is a lake in the town of Westmore in Orleans County in the northeast section of Vermont, United States. The lake's southern end is surrounded by the Willoughby State Forest, which includes Mount Pisgah, Mount Hor, and Bartlett Mountain (Vermont). The lake is about 5 miles (8.0 km) long. In 2010, Yankee magazine named Willoughby as the third best lake in New England. The lake is known for its clarity and chilly temperature. Because of its depth, the surface of the lake freezes later than other lakes in the Northeast Kingdom. It was created by glacial action and is over 300 feet (91 m) deep in places, making it the deepest lake entirely contained in the state. Lake Willoughby resembles a Norwegian fjord. Willoughby, a National Natural Landmark, 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. 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. More than 100 bird species have been recorded around the lake including thrushes, warblers, hummingbirds, jays, finches, loons, herons and gulls.