Colchester Reef Light

Colchester Reef Light was built off Colchester Point in Lake Champlain to warn vessels away from Middle Bunch Reef as regional trade increased. Commissioned in 1869 and completed in 1871, Albert R. Dow’s design combined practical engineering for wind and ice with the ornamental French Second Empire style. The lighthouse served with a fixed red Fresnel light and housed eleven keepers and their families in exposed, demanding conditions. Decommissioned in 1933, it later suffered damage and neglect before being bought, dismantled, and reconstructed at the Shelburne Museum. It remains a rare preserved Lake Champlain lighthouse and a notable example of distinctive regional design.

Shelburne, Vermont · United States