Waterbury Reservoir at Little River State Park

In 1927, Vermont suffered its most catastrophic flood, when torrential rains sent rivers roaring out of the mountains, killing dozens and devastating towns across the state. The disaster spurred a push for flood control, and the Little River valley was chosen for a major dam.

During the 1930s, workers built the Waterbury Dam to hold back the Little River, creating the reservoir that fills the valley today. Much of the labor came from the Civilian Conservation Corps, the New Deal program that put young men to work on public lands across the country.

The reservoir, then, is a piece of engineering history as much as a recreation area, a monument to how the state responded to tragedy by reshaping a river.

Long before the dam, the hillsides above the valley were farmed by families who cleared the steep, stony land in the 1800s. It was a hard living, and as better farmland opened elsewhere and the soil wore out, the community gradually emptied, its people moving on and its buildings falling into the forest.

Today the History Hike in Little River State Park leads through what remains: cellar holes where houses once stood, tumbled stone walls, old roadbeds, and small family cemeteries, all reclaimed by trees. Interpretive markers help visitors read the vanished community in the landscape.

Walking among these traces is a moving experience, a reminder of the many Vermont hill farms that were abandoned as the state's population shifted, and it deserves the same quiet respect one would give any cemetery or homesite.

The reservoir is the draw for many, its long shape and branching coves ideal for a leisurely paddle, with mountain views opening up as you go. Quiet inlets reward those willing to explore, and the protected water suits paddlers of a range of abilities.

Little River State Park provides a swimming area, campsites in the forest, and trailheads for both the history hikes and longer routes into the surrounding hills. It is a full outdoor base rather than a single overlook.

Because the park sits up a dead-end valley, it has a tucked-away calm, less trafficked than Vermont's marquee sights despite being close to Stowe and the interstate.

Summer is the prime season, when the swimming area, campground, and paddling are all in play and the reservoir is at its most inviting. It is a classic Vermont summer spot.

Fall lays foliage over the hills ringing the water, and a paddle beneath the color, or a history hike through the leaf-strewn ruins, is one of the season's quieter pleasures. The crowds thin as the air cools.

In the colder months the park winds down and access narrows, the reservoir still and gray beneath the surrounding mountains, resting until the return of the paddling season.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.