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      • Baker Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Blue Hill Bay Light, Maine
      • Boon Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Browns Head Lighthouse, Vinalhaven, Maine
      • Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse, Swans Island, Maine
      • Burnt Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Cape Elizabeth Light, Maine
      • Cape Neddick (the Nubble) Light, Maine
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      • Curtis Island Light, Maine
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      • Eagle Island Light, Maine
      • Egg Rock Lighthouse, Maine
      • Fort Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Franklin Island Light, Maine
      • Goat Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Goose Rocks Lighthouse, Maine
      • Great Duck Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Grindle Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Halfway Rock Lighthouse, Maine
      • Hendricks Head Lighthouse, Maine
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      • Indian Island Light, Maine
      • Kennebec River Range Lights, Maine
      • Libby Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Little River Lighthouse, Maine
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      • Marshall Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Matinicus Rock Light, Maine
      • Monhegan Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Moose Peak Lighthouse, Maine
      • Mount Desert Rock Lighthouse, Maine
      • Narraguagus Island Light, Maine
      • Nash Island Light, Maine
      • Owls Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Perkins Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Petit Manan Lighthouse, Maine
      • Pond Island Light, Maine
      • Popham Beach Life Saving Station
      • Portland Breakwater Lighthouse, Maine
      • Portland Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Prospect Harbor Lighthouse, Maine
      • Pumpkin Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Ram Island Ledge Light, Maine
      • Ram Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Robinson Point Lighthouse on Isle Au Haut, Maine
      • Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, Maine
      • Rockland Harbor Southwest Light, Maine
      • Saddleback Ledge Light, Maine
      • Seguin Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Southern Island Light, Maine
      • Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, Maine
      • Squirrel Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Two Bush Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Whaleback Light, Maine
      • Whitehead Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Winter Harbor Lighthouse, Maine
      • Wood Island Lighthouse, Maine
    • California Lighthouses
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      • Santa Cruz Light, California
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    • Connecticut Lighthouses
      • Avery Point Lighthouse
      • Faulkners Island Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Fayerweather Island Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Five Mile Point Light, Connecticut
      • Great Captain Island Lighthouse
      • Latimer Reef Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Lynde Point Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Morgan Point Lighthouse, Connectitcut
      • Mystic Seaport Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • New London Harbor Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • New London Ledge Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Penfield Reef Lighthouse
      • Race Rock Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Sheffield Island Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Stamford Harbor Lighthouse
      • Stonington Harbor Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Stratford Point Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Stratford Shoal Lighthouse
      • Tongue Point Lighthouse
    • Delaware Lighthouses
      • Harbor of Refuge Light, Delaware
      • Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse, Delaware
      • Fenwick Island Lighthouse
      • Liston Rear Range Light
      • Overfalls Lightship, Delaware
      • Mispillion Lighthouse, Delaware
      • Reedy Island Rear Range Light
      • Marcus Hook Rear Range Light
    • Florida Lighthouses
      • Amelia Island Lighthouse, Florida
      • American Shoal Lighthouse, Florida
      • Cape Canaveral Light, Florida
      • Cape Florida Lighthouse, Florida
      • Crooked River Lighthouse
      • Faro Blanco Light, Florida
      • Garden Key Lighthouse, Florida
      • Gasparilla Island Lights, Florida
      • Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, Florida
      • Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse
      • Key West Lighthouse, Florida
      • Loggerhead Key Lighthouse, Florida
      • Pensacola Lighthouse
      • Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, Florida
      • Sand Key Lighthouse, Florida
      • Sanibel Island Lighthouse, Florida
      • St. Augustine Lighthouse, Florida
      • St. John's River Lighthouse, Florida
      • St. Marks Lighthouse, Florida
      • Sombrero Key Lighthouse
    • Georgia Lighthouses
      • St. Simons Island Lighthouse, Georgia
      • Tybee Island Lighthouse, Georgia
    • Hawai'i Lighthouses
      • Diamond Head Lighthouse, O'ahu, Hawai'i
      • Kilauea Point Lighthouse, Kaua'i, Hawai'i
      • Lahaina Harbor Lighthouse, Mau'i, Hawai'i
      • Makapu'u Light, Oahu, Hawai'i
      • Moloka'i Lighthouse, Moloka'i, Hawai'i
    • Illinois Lighthouses
      • Grosse Point Light, Illinois
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    • Louisiana Lighthouses
      • New Canal Lighthouse, Louisiana
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      • Chesapeake Lightship, Maryland
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      • Cove Point Light, Maryland
      • Choptank River Lighthouse
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      • Fishing Battery Light, Maryland
      • Hooper Strait Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Piney Point Light, Maryland
      • Point Lookout Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Sandy Point Light, Maryland
      • Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Turkey Point Lighthouse, Maryland
    • Massachusetts Lighthouses
      • Annisquam Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Baker's Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Bass River Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Bird Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Brant Point Lighthouse, Nantucket
      • Butler Flats Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Boston Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Cape Poge Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Chatham Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Clark's Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Deer Island Light, Massachusetts
      • Derby Wharf Light, Massachusetts
      • Dog Bar Breakwater Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Duxbury Pier Light, Massachusetts
      • East Chop Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Eastern Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Gay Head Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Graves Light, Massachusetts
      • Great Point Lighthouse, Nantucket, Massachusetts
      • Highland Lighthouse, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
      • Hospital Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Lewis Bay Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Marblehead Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Mayo's Beach Lighthouse
      • Minots Ledge Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Monomoy Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Nantucket Lightship, Massachusetts
      • Nauset Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Ned's Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Newburyport Harbor Range Lights, Massachusetts
      • Nobska Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Palmer Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Plum Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Plymouth Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Race Point Lighthouse, Cape Cod Massachusetts
      • Sandy Neck Lighthouse
      • Sankaty Head Lighthouse
      • Scituate Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Stage Harbor Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Straitsmouth Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Tarpaulin Cove Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Ten Pound Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Thacher Island Twin Lights, Massachusetts
      • Three Sisters of Nauset Lighthouses, Massachusetts
      • West Chop Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Wings Neck Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Winter Island Lighthouse
      • Brant Point Lighthouse, Nantucket MA
    • New Hampshire Lighthouses
      • Isles of Shoals Light, New Hampshire
      • Portsmouth Harbor Light, New Hampshire
    • New Jersey Lighthouses
      • Absecon Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Barnegat Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Brandywine Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Cape May Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Chapel Hill Rear Range Light, New Jersey
      • Conover Beacon Front Range Light, New Jersey
      • East Point Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Finns Point Lighthouse
      • Fourteen Foot Bank Light, New Jersey
      • Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, North Wildwood, New Jersey
      • Miah Maull Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Sandy Hook Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Sea Girt Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Ship John Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Twin Lights of Navesink, New Jersey
      • Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse, New Jersey
    • New York Lighthouses
      • Ambrose Lightship, New York
      • Big Sodus Light, New York
      • Blackswell Island Light, New York
      • Buffalo Main Lighthouse, New York
      • Cape Vincent Breakwater Lighthouse, New York
      • Clayton Memorial Lighthouse, New Yrok
      • Coney Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Crossover Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Dunkirk Light, New York
      • Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, New York
      • Execution Rocks Lighthouse, New York
      • Fire Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Horton Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Montauk Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Ogdensburg Harbor Lighthouse, New York
      • Old Field Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Rock Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Rondout Creek Lighthouse, New York
      • Saugerties Lighthouse, New York
      • Selkirk Lighthouse, New York
      • Sister Islands Lighthouse, New York
      • Staten Island Light, New York
      • Stepping Stones Lighthouse
      • Stony Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Sunken Rock Lighthouse, New York
      • Tarrytown Lighthouse, New York
      • Tibbetts Point Lighthouse, New York
    • North Carolina Lighthouses
      • Bodie Island Light, North Carolina
      • Ocracoke Light, North Carolina
      • Cape Hatteras Light, North Carolina
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      • Fairport Harbor Light, Ohio
      • Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light, Ohio
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      • Cape Meares Light, Oregon
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      • Presque Isle Lighthouse, Pennsylvania
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      • Morris Island Light, South Carolina
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      • Colchester Reef Lighthouse, Vermont
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      • Windmill Point Lighthouse
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Colchester Reef Lighthouse, Vermont

If you happen to be driving on US 7 in Vermont passing through the town of Shelburne, be prepared to see something unusual. No, you're not dreaming, lying just off the highway is a lighthouse! Located on the grounds of the Shelburne Museum, which has over 39 exhibition buildings featuring Americana, the Colchester Reef Lighthouse is one of the museums main attractions.
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$20,000 was allocated for the construction of the light and it was completed in 1871. The plan was a wooden structure of Second Empire design with 4 bedrooms on the second floor and a kitchen, living room and oil room on the first floor. The design for this lighthouse was used in later years at lighthouses in Rhode Island's Naragansett Bay as well.
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$20,000 was allocated for the construction of the light and it was completed in 1871. The plan was a wooden structure of Second Empire design with 4 bedrooms on the second floor and a kitchen, living room and oil room on the first floor. The design for this lighthouse was used in later years at lighthouses in Rhode Island's Naragansett Bay as well.

ColchesterReef007

  • As the lumber trade increased on Lake Champlain during the 1800's, the Lighthouse Establishment decided to mark a reef on the northern approach to Burlington harbor. In 1869 they decided to hold a national competition for the best design to use for the lighthouse. The design picked was submitted by a Burlington native, Albert R. Dow, who was an engineering graduate from the University of Vermont.
  • $20,000 was allocated for the construction of the light and it was completed in 1871. The plan was a wooden structure of Second Empire design with 4 bedrooms on the second floor and a kitchen, living room and oil room on the first floor. The design for this lighthouse was used in later years at lighthouses in Rhode Island's Naragansett Bay as well.
  • The lantern was fitted with a Sixth Order Fresnel lens which exhibited a fixed red light with a range of 11 miles. The light was located about a mile off Colchester Point and was displayed 35 feet above sea level. Herman Melaney was the first Keeper to light the lamp and he remained at Colchester Reef for 11 years.
  • The second Keeper Walter Button lived at the light with his family and several of his children were born at the light. In January 1888 his pregnant wife announced she was going into labor with their fifth child and asked Walter to signal the doctor on shore to come out to the light. Walter rang the fogbell, a pre-arraigned signal, to alert the doctor. The doctor and his assistant drove a team of horses to the closest point of land and attempted to walk across the ice to the light.
  • As the doctor and his assistant carefully walked across the ice a wind came up and the ice began to crack under the pressure. The ice they were standing upon broke off and started to drift northward. Walter watched from the lighthouse window as the doctor floated past the lighthouse. Walter went back to his wife and they delivered a healthy baby girl. The doctor and his assistant drifted for four hours until the ice floe ended up on South Hero Island where they waded ashore, wet and cold but relieved.
  • Provisions were brought to the lighthouse once a year by a Tender from the Depot on Staten Island, NY. Keeper Button also maintained a garden on Sunday Island a half mile from the lighthouse. Picking a tomato from the garden meant getting into the lighthouse skiff and rowing over to the island, then rowing back. If some of the family was at the garden and a storm was brewing up, someone at the lighthouse would signal them to return by blowing a conch shell.
  • Life growing up on a lighthouse surrounded by water was unusual. The children played out on the 4 foot walkway which surrounded the lighthouse and fished from the downstairs windows. It was a cause for consternation when the parents could not locate one of the children.
  • In 1909 a German immigrant named August Lorenz became Keeper of the light and remained for 22 years. Mr. Lorenz had been assigned to a light near New York City, but he began a correspondence with the Keeper of Colchester Reef and proposed switching their assignments. The New York Keeper agreed and when the Lighthouse Service assented to the switch, they agreed to meet halfway and exchange keys to their respective stations. Mr. Lorenz loved living at the light and frugally saved his money. He spread his deposits to 3 different banks so no one would know how much money he had. Eventually Lorenz reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 and was forced to retire from the life he loved in 1931. Two years later the light was decommissioned and boarded up as a pole light took its place.
  • The light over the years fell into disrepair and was scheduled to be demolished. The Shelburne Museum upon learning this obtained ownership of the structure in 1952 and then had a team remove it, piece by piece from its foundation and re-erected the light on land at the museum grounds. The Coast Guard donated a Fresnel lens and fog bell for the light and it was opened to the public to tell the story of sea faring ships on Lake Champlain. It underwent a $130,000 renovation in 2009 and is today one of the great attractions on the Lake. You can visit www.shelburnemuseum.org for more information
  • An old postcard view showing the Colchester Reef Lighthouse on its foundation in Lake Champlain.
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