Waterbury Center, VT

Waterbury Center is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Waterbury, Washington County, Vermont. Vermont Route 100 runs along its western side, heading south to I-89 at Waterbury village and north toward Stowe. The community sits beside the east arm of Waterbury Reservoir, where the Little River flows south toward the Winooski River.

Waterbury Center State Park borders the community on the west, giving the place a shoreline map of beach, woods, and reservoir water. The reservoir was created by the Little River Dam in 1935-38 as a flood-control project; farms and homes in the watershed were relocated, and remnants remain in Little River State Park. Waterbury Center therefore sits at the meeting point of an older river settlement, a twentieth-century dam, and present-day state park lands. Its roads connect the reservoir to the larger Waterbury valley. The village's address belongs to Waterbury, but its west-east layout follows the reservoir and Route 100. The water's edge and mountain backdrop are the immediate reference points for the community.