for gainful employment . The town is now all but empty , a bare and spectral shell of its former glory . In the late 1920s , demand for roofing slate was in a steady rate of decline . When the Great Depression hit , the formerly vibrant village became a starkly silent still snapshot of a bygone era . Today , relics of West Castleton ’ s industrial past stand eerily entwined in the vines , with long abandoned processing mills scattered between the maple trees . What tales and secrets echo in the empty quarries and musty cellars of this once-lively industrial town ? What legends lie hidden within the tranquil and mysterious waters of the nearby lake ?
One such tale is the story of the Ghost Boat of Lake Bomoseen . The story goes that on one fine and fateful night , a group of adventurous Irish quarrymen ventured eastward across Lake Bomoseen from West Castleton in search of good times and merriment at a pub near the lake ’ s eastern shore . After their night of carousing , rumor has it that they stumbled back onto their boat to journey westward across the lake back home towards their work encampment . The next morning , their boat was found floating around empty on the lake . Their bodies would never be recovered . Little is known of the final fate of the three merry Irishmen on that dark and misty night . The glassy and mysterious waters of the lake hold tight to their secrets .
As years passed by , Bomoseen locals and visitors alike reported seeing a lone rowboat effortlessly skimming across the waters on full moon nights without a single visible person on board . Stranger yet , there were never any oars heard or seen splashing off the sides of the boat , and the phantom watercraft left no visible wake in its path as it silently coasted across the lake , illuminated by the moonlight reflecting off the lake ’ s scintillating surface as it vanished without a trace . Legend has it that the shadowy and eerie vessel is piloted by the ghosts of the ill-fated quarrymen , who still ride the waters of Bomoseen hoping to find their way home .
Over time , the Legend of the Ghost Boat of Lake Bomoseen has become an integral part of local Southern Vermont folklore . The tragic and compelling tale of the sad destiny that befell the three hard working quarrymen immortalizes the era of industrial prosperity in the 19th century in West Castleton , preserving the legacy of a rich and storied chapter in Vermont ’ s history . The story is not just a bone chilling Vermont myth that is perfectly suited for spirited nights around summer campfires , it also serves as an exemplary metaphor for the rise and fall of West Castleton ’ s economy .
The town of West Castleton might have been abandoned years ago , much like the ghostly boat that propels itself across Lake Bomoseen through means unknown , yet both the Legend of the Ghost Boat and the still-standing remains of the industrial town serve as a lasting imprint of the cultural significance of an important era in Bomoseen ’ s past . As long as the story of the 3 merry quarrymen whose ghosts drive the boat across the lake is passed from one generation to the next , the industrial heritage of West Castleton will never be lost to time . n
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