Silver Lake - Fairfax?

[Henry]

Hi All,

Don Flemming let me borrow a postcard he purchased on E-Bay and I am wondering if anyone has any information on this Boys Camp:

[Henry]

Well, I had no idea we had such a place in Fairfax, so I googled it and came up with this.  Apparently to take Wagner Road and it is somewhere off from White Pine Road.  Anybody ever been there??  Supposedly that is where the Silver Lake Boys Camp was at one time.

[Henry]

I found the following description of Silver Lake under Vermont Lakes on the Internet - Man, I've got to go see what this place is really like and bring my camera:

Beautiful Silver Lake has much to offer visitors. Summer brings highs in the 80's to Silver Lake, and the night is fairly chillier of course, typically in the 50's. All through the wintertime highs are generally in the 20's while the cold winter nights at Silver Lake are in the 0's. The skiing at Bolton Valley is brilliant, and there's perfect hiking along the Island Farm Nature Trail. Homestead Campgrounds is a delightful campground here, and there's whitewater on Browns River for all you adrenaline people.Silver Lake gets a typical amount of rainfall; August is the wettest month with most rain, and January is when it's the driest. Be careful coming to Silver Lake, you might not ever wanna go back home again. The top of Cushman Hill is easily seen from Silver Lake, and Arrowhead Golf Course is a great golf course nearby. You can run the rapids of Mill Brook near Silver Lake, and the Southern Tip Trail offers hiking at its best.Why not check out Silver Lake Dam if you're here, and dry warm beds await you at Econo Lodge St. Albans. This lake is so wonderful. A day on the slopes of Cochran Ski Center is just what you need; during your spree here you'll meet some folks from Burlington-South Burlington for sure. If you want a wonderful time in the great outdoors, just come on down to Silver Lake.This lake is so wonderful. A quick tour to Beaver Meadow Brook in the vicinity of Silver Lake is a good idea, and Silver Lake is right by the North Shore Trail. If you came for an overnight stay Maple Grove Campground is a great site to camp; after a long day outdoors La Quinta Inn & Suites St. Albans is a magnificent location to spend a night or two.

[NorthFairfaxBoy]

Silver Lake was built as a water reservoir for St. Albans with no easy access to it.  Only a few hiking/snowmobile trails.  As a Boy Scout, we used to camp out there a few times a year.  But there is/was no permanent camp.  (Just a solitary lean to.)  One trail went through Dr. Ned Shulman's property.  The other I believe was near the end of Nichols Rd., and was/is used as a snowmobile trail.  There is also a third I think off of Skunk Hollow in Georgia. 

I found this:
Silver Lake, Vermont
Silver Lake North Dike is on a tributary of Beaver Meadow Brook in Franklin County, Vermont and is used for drinking water purposes. Construction was completed in 1895. It has a normal surface area of 28 acres. It is owned by the City Of St. Albans.
Silver Lake North Dike is of earthen construction. The core is homogeneous, earth. The foundation is soil. Its height is 10 feet with a length of 181 feet. Its capacity is 220 acre feet. Normal storage is 70 acre feet. It drains an area of 0.196875 square miles.

[Henry]

In Albert Brodeur's note to me he tells me:

"Hi gramps,

Yes, I remember Silver Lake.  The way I know is thru Raymond Wagners up past the house thru the field to the lake. Now its almost 50 years since I have been up there so I know it has changed."

I am surmising from Al's note that Raymond Wagner lived where Dr. Shulman lives now and I suspect that is probably the reason it is called The Wagner Road.

[misswafl]

Funny I should see this after some time.  I used to visit my Uncle Phil (Phil Parah on Austin Road) and when we were kids, we would take the 4 wheelers up past Shulmans and go to Silver Lake.  It's beautiful up there, but gosh, it's been a good 25 years since I've been up there.

[Henry]

It has been a while since I have heard anymore about Silver Lake, but just got a note from Joe Belanger who said:

Henry, 
I walked to Silver Lake yesterday (Sunday - March 1, 2009). It was as good as going to church.  It is a beautiful woodland walk and an interesting find at the lake.  There seem to be two earthen dams, the major one on the South and the second on the East. On the smaller dam there is a concrete structure that is ground level and has a metal cover. It has three sets of initials and the date "1976". Picture attached is of just the initials an not the whole structure. The earthen dam structures are of placed rock and earth.
 
It is a very interesting place in the Vermont country side.  If I come up with any other interesting tidbits I will pass them on to you.
 
best regards,  Joe Belanger

Many Thanks for the information Joe - Not much written on it, although St. Albans may have something since they are the one that apparently have the rights to the water.

[Carolyn Branagan]

I walked to Silver Lake with other 4-Hers one day in 1969. Hale Nye took us up there to cut a tree to use for a flag pole. We cut it down, limbed it off and brought it out to the road, what a job! The new flag pole was eventually put up in the town common on route 7 in Georgia in the center of town and the 4Hers dedicated it in honor of the veterans in Georgia the following July 4th.

Silver Lake was beautiful and we walked the whole way. As I remember, it took us nearly the entire day, but the flag pole   remained in the town common for years.

from,  Carolyn Branagan