Waterbury center state park lies on the easterly trivium of waterbury reservoir, a quarter mile off vt route 100. it is an integral recreation resource in central vermont and one of the newer park facilities within mount mansfield state forest. the reservoir is the ninth largest body of water in the state of vermont and was created in the 1930's by the ccc as a flood control project to protect towns and villages along the winooski river valley. from late spring to early fall the reservoir is maintained to a surface area of 850 acres and has a maximum depth of 100 feet. to prepare for normal spring snow melt and runoff, the surface area is reduced to between 415 - 610 acres throughout the winter. the designed flood control capacity of waterbury reservoir is approximately 9,000,000,000 gallons.

The land of wilgus state park was given to the state of vermont in 1933 by colonel and mrs. william wilgus for the creation of wilgus state park.

This 398-acre park has the highest elevation campground of any park in vermont, at 2400 feet. woodford is located on a mountain plateau and surrounds adams reservoir. the high elevation spruce/fir/birch forest provides an ideal setting for the park. woodford borders the george aiken wilderness area, which is in the green mountain national forest. there are several lakes and ponds in the surrounding area.

One of three neighboring island parks in lake champlain’s “inland sea”, woods island became vermont's forty-fifth state park in 1985. (burton and knight islands are the other two) a mile long by a quarter-mile wide, 125-acre woods island is unique as habitat for a rich variety of plant life including many species rare or threatened in vermont. a portion of the island was once farmed; traces of drainage ditches remain today. still visible also is the farm house foundation and weathered remains of old farm machinery. a later attempt by a private developer saw the beginnings of an airstrip constructed down the center of the island; the earth berms you climb over on the cross-island trail are the runway edges.