Point Au Roche Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

It was on Lake Champlain that the world’s second steamship, the Vermont, began service in 1808, just one year after Robert Fulton’s ship the Clairmont made its maiden voyage on the Hudson River. Lake Champlain was also the site of key naval battles during both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and with the opening of the canal connecting the lake to the Hudson River in 1823, Lake Champlain became an important shipping route.

Vessels traveling near the northern end of Lake Champlain must veer to the east at La Roche Reef, just south of Isle La Motte, to avoid shoals. In 1852, Congress appropriated $5,000 for a lighthouse to mark the navigational hazard. 10.4 acres on the New York shore near La Roche Reef were purchased from Nathan Perry for $440 to serve as the site for the Point Au Roche Lighthouse, which was activated in 1858, the same year as its two sister lights at Windmill Point and Crown Point.

The Point Au Roche Lighthouse consisted of an octagonal blue limestone block tower connected to a wooden Cape Cod cottage. One distinguishing characteristic of the three sister towers is the use of trapezoidal panes in their lantern rooms. A sixth-order Fresnel lens produced a fixed white light from atop the 50-foot Point Au Roche tower. With a focal plane of 54 feet above the surface of the lake, the light was visible for thirteen miles.

During the 1930s, the Lighthouse Board automated all the lights of Lake Champlain that were still active. At every lighthouse except Point Au Roche, an automated beacon was placed on a skeletal tower near the now-inactive lighthouse. The automated light at Point Au Roche remained in the tower, but all the lighthouse property, save a 50-foot square lot surrounding the tower, was sold for $2100 in 1934. The keeper’s cottage was also included in the deal, and the new owner, G.C. Oliver, moved the dwelling just north of the tower, where it became a private residence.

Over time, the lake shoreline in front of the tower has eroded away and the masonry of the tower has begun to deteriorate. In fact, a large section of the cornice just beneath the lantern room has fallen from the tower. In 1989, it was determined that the tower was no longer safe, and the light was moved to a buoy on La Roche Reef.

Photo Gallery: 1

References

1. Lake Champlain Lighthouses, George Clifford, Clinton County Historical Association, 1999.
2. “The Lighthouses of Lake Champlain,” Morris Glenn, The Keeper’s Log, Winter 1994.