t in 1880
along with the wooden keeper's dwelling. The tower, equipped with a
sixth order Fresnel lens, displayed a fixed white light. This light was
46 feet above water and its light was visible for 13 miles.
Wilbur F. Hill was keeper of the old beacon starting in
1871, and he remained at the new lighthouse station until 1919, serving
48 years as keeper. During his years at Isle la Motte Light, Keeper
Hill received awards for having the best kept station in the
Hill also maintained a 100-acre farm nearby. Wilbur Hill
retired from lighthouse keeping about six weeks before he died.
The station's final keeper was William Grant, the nephew of Maine
lighthouse heroine Abbie Burgess Grant.
|A skeleton tower with an automatic beacon replaced the
lighthouse in 1933. The station was sold into private hands, and the
lighthouse remained dark for nearly 70 years.
In 1949 the property was bought by the Clark family from their dentist,
who had purchased it from the Coast Guard.
In 2001 the Coast Guard began looking at the possibility of
reactivating some of Lake Champlain's lighthouses. They worked closely
with Lockwood "Lucky" Clark and his family, owners of the station, to
prepare for a relighting.
Owners of Isle la
Motte Lighthouse: L to R, Lockwood "Lucky" Clark, his sister Erika
Bayer, Claire Clark, and Rob Clark.
Lucky Clark made this
sign that includes a replica of the lighthouse
Isle La Motte
Lighthouse on the day of relighting, October 5, 2002
Photo by Sue LeFever
On the evening of October 5, 2002, the Isle la Motte
Lighthouse returned to service at dusk. Attendance at the relighting
ceremony was estimated at more than 300.
As the moment of relighting approached, everyone
counted down from ten. Local schoolchildren had the honor of relighting
the lighthouse. The group included Lois Cameron, great-granddaughter of
Keeper Wilbur Hill. As the light came on at 6:18 p.m., a cannon blazed
and Lucky Clark vigorously rang the bell near the lighthouse.
The light station is a private residence and is
closed to the public. The lighthouse, painted orange some years ago,
has faded to a pinkish rose color, or as the locals call it, "Nantucket
Red" or "salmon."
Unlike most cast-iron
lighthouses, Isle la Motte has no brick lining. Two ladders lead from
the base to the lantern room.
A view from the top, encompassing the
old skeleton tower.
(Thanks to David E.
Cook for providing this list in his book The Light-Keepers of
Lake Champlain. If
you have any information on the keepers of this lighthouse, I'd love to
hear from you. You can email me at firstname.lastname@example.org. Anyone copying
this list onto another web site does so at their own risk, as the list
is always subject to updates and corrections.)
John D. Reynolds (1857-1862); Ezra Pike, Jr. (1862-1871); Wilbur F.
Hill (1871-1919); William Grant (1919-1933)