Lake St. Catherine is a beautiful 852-acre lake located in the towns of Wells and Poultney, Vermont. This five-mile lake system consists of the northern Lily Pond, the central main lake, and the southern Little Lake, with channels connecting all parts. Wells is a quaint old village with a general store and two churches. Poultney offers shopping and until recently was the home of  lovely Green Mountain College which closed in 2018.  The nearby town of Granville, New York, provides shopping as well.

The lake supports excellent fishing for bass, trout, northern pike, catfish, and panfish. Several rental cottages are available along the western shore of the lake.

The lovely Lake St. Catherine Country Club is only a few miles from the lake, and it offers a challenging 18-hole course with spectacular views of the surrounding area as well as an attractive clubhouse and restaurant with dining indoors and oudoors.

The state of Vermont operates the Lake St. Catherine State Park along the northeastern shore of the main lake. The park offers camping, boating, swimming, and picnicking with clean facilities and level campsites. In addition, the Wells Lakeside Park is located on the northwestern end of Little Lake, and offers a pleasant spot for picnicking and launching of canoes and kayaks.

Carved out by glaciers years ago, Lake St. Catherine nestles at the foot of a range of small mountains. A fascinating history of Wells, Vermont can be seen at Archive.org’s “History of Wells, Vermont, for the first century after its settlement”. This detailed account of the town’s first hundred years offers some interesting information about the early uses of the lake by the industrious settlers during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

 

Our Mission

The Lake Saint Catherine Conservation Fund was formed in 2009 and is an organization dedicated to securing the future of the Lake Saint Catherine system.

The Lake system faces several problems including accelerating eutrophication that now makes portions of the lake unavailable for the accustomed uses we have enjoyed in the past.

The Conservation Fund is a group of local citizens and part-time residents organized to encourage improvement in the Lake system through public awareness (including public meetings), lake quality monitoring, the implementation of a lake use strategy, and the initiation of projects. We are currently working with the State of Vermont (ANR), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Darrin Freshwater Research Institute, the Town of Wells, the Lake St. Catherine Association, and all interested parties.

Further, we are currently investigating all ecologically sound methods of improving the quality of the lake, and soliciting analyses and recommendations from experts in the area of lake management.