A century and a half after the first settlement was established on Isle La Motte, a lantern was hung from a pine tree east of the old fort in 1829, establishing the first navigational light on Isle la Motte. The light was later moved to the upper window of a stone house.

In 1856, the U.S. government purchased a parcel of land on Isle La Motte for $50 and replaced the private light with a limestone tower supporting an large lens lantern. The conical tower rested on a rectangular base, where it had a diameter of five feet, and rose to a height of eighteen and a half feet, where its diameter was two and a half feet. An iron ladder mounted to the outside of the hollow tower provided access to a walkway that encircled the lantern. A local farmer was paid to tend the light, but on stormy nights, when the light was so critical, the lamp would often blow out. An 1871 Notice to Mariners noted: “The distance between the residence of the keeper and the beacon is too great to secure the proper attendance.” This problem led the Lighthouse Board to recommend that a new combined keeper’s dwelling and light tower be built at an estimated cost of $8,000.

Authorization came in 1877 for the lighthouse, a 25-foot tower made of curved cast-iron plates, accompanied by a detached one and one-half story keeper’s cottage. The tower, similar to those at Point Montara, CA, Chatham, MA, and Nobska, MA, held a sixth-order Fresnel lens, which shown a fixed white light at a focal plane of forty-six feet, visible for thirteen miles. Keeper Wilbur F. Hill lit its lantern for the first time in 1881. A cast bronze fog bell was rung at the station in times of reduced visibility.

Skeletal tower that replaced Isle La Motte Lighthouse

Keeper Hill was well acquainted with Isle La Motte. His service there began in 1871 at the old beacon and continued for 48 years until his retirement in 1919. Along with serving as keeper of the station, he maintained a 100-acre farm nearby.

The iron tower, originally painted bright red, has an Italianate cast railing, arched windows, and molded cornices. Over time, it has faded to a light pink, called Nantucket red by the locals.

During the 1930s, in a cost saving measure, the Lighthouse Board replaced the lights along Lake Champlain with steel skeletal towers. One such tower, with an automatic beacon, replaced the Isle La Motte light in 1933, and the lightstation was sold into private hands. In 1949, the Isle La Motte Lighthouse was purchased by the Robert C. Clark family from his family's dentist, the original private owner of the lighthouse. The Clark family had previously owned a camp on Isle La Motte near St. Anne's Shrine.

In 2001, the Coast Guard considered the cost of replacing the deteriorating steel tower and determined it might be more cost effective to return the light to the original tower. Through the cooperation of the Clark family, who own both the Isle La Motte Station and the Windmill Point Station, lights have been returned to these two lighthouses.

After almost seven decades of darkness, the Isle La Motte Lighthouse returned to active service on October 5, 2002. The event was witnessed by a crowd of over 300 and accompanied by the tolling of the nearby fog bell.

Photo Gallery: 1 2 3 4 5

References

1. “Bringing New England’s Little Known ‘West Coast’ Lighthouses Back to Life,” Jeremy D’Entremont, Lighthouse Digest, December 2002.
2. Lake Champlain Lighthouses, George Clifford, Clinton County Historical Association, 1999.
3. “The Lighthouses of Lake Champlain,” Morris Glenn, The Keeper’s Log, Winter 1994.