Bomoseen Slate History Trail

What follows are excerpts taken from the State of Vermont's pamphlet about the Slate History Trail in Bomoseen State Park. We followed the trail last summer and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

"Within Bomoseen State Park lies the abandoned village of the West Castleton Slate Company. These quiet hills were once the scene of industry - busy quarries, churning mills, a company town crowded with immigrant workers. West Castleton is now silent, the slate industry of the 19th century Vermont, largely forgotten."

"By 1850, the West Castleton Railroad and Slate Company was in operation. This was said to be the only slate company in Vermont at the time. Business was good. Slate was in demand for roofing tiles, fireplace mantles, billiard tables and blackboards. Where slate was readily available in surface deposits, it was used for foundations and steps."

"Throughout the early 1900's the slate company profited. But in 1929, the Lake Shore - West Castleton Mill closed. Demand for roofing slate had declined, the quarries were nearly exhausted, and water and rubble removal had become difficult. Labor shortages during World War I, subsequent strikes and the Depression may have also contributed to the decision to close the mill."

"West Castleton was literally abandoned. The village remains as cellar holes, quarry gabbles and mills scattered among twisted grape vines, goldenrods and maple saplings."

Preserved as a residence, this is an excellent example of a stacked slate house. One of three buildings built during the the mid 1880's, this house was probably for a mill supervisor. Today, a private residence occupies the site.

Source: Bomoseen State Park, Slate History Trail, State of Vermont, Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.