Shelburne Pond

Shelburne Pond was described by Hub Vogelmann in part 2 of Natural areas of Vermont in 1969. Later accounts of Hub's life tell how he loved to go fishing there. One day he found an old dugout canoe floating on the pond. Using carbon-14 dating methods, the canoe was found to be over 700 years old.

There's an upland forest along the southwest shore of the pond. Older documents refer to this area as the Shelburne Pond Natural Area but the official name is the H. Laurence Achilles Natural Area at Shelburne Pond. Vogelmann was instrumental in the creation of this natural area. It is a rich hardwood forest with a diverse population of early spring wildflowers, one of the best such areas in Chittenden County. It is one of two natural areas in Vermont (the other being Shaw Mountain Natural Area) that support large numbers of white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum). Be sure to visit the natural area during the first week of May for a breathtaking display of trilliums!

I visited the H. Laurence Achilles Natural Area at Shelburne Pond on April 15,2023, observing about 30 taxa of plants, most of them budding or flowering.

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