Its location on Lake Champlain, which borders New York, Quebec, and Vermont, helped Burlington develop into the second largest lumber port in the United States. Juniper Island is located close to the Burlington shore and was an ideal site for a navigational beacon as traffic increased in the area.

Aside from crude early lanterns, Juniper Island Light was the first lighthouse built on Lake Champlain. The original 30-foot brick tower, built in 1826, was replaced by a 30-foot cast-iron tower in 1846. The tower, constructed of four separate iron cylinders, is the oldest standing cast-iron lighthouse in the United States. It is similar to the second Long Island Head Light (1844) in Boston Harbor and the present Monomoy Point Light (1849).

Juniper Island Light Station in 1916. (U.S. Coast Guard)

The light was originally produced by 10 lamps and reflectors, but Juniper Island Light was later equipped with a fourth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed white light. A new stone dwelling was built in 1863. The station also had an automatic fog bell that sounded every 15 seconds. A new fog bell tower was built in 1874 for $1,000.

For some time Juniper Island also served as a depot for the Lighthouse Service on Lake Champlain. Coal, buoys, oil and other supplies were stored on the island.

Storms were not uncommon on Lake Champlain. A gale in July of 1890 destroyed boats and took several lives. In 1918, strong winds carried away 30 feet of the station's dock. A new concrete dock was erected in 1922.

Left: This skeleton tower that carried the light at Juniper Island from 1954 to 2003. (Courtesy of Chris Ledwith, USCG ISD South Portland, ME.) Right: The lighthouse is dwarfed by the skeleton tower installed in 2003.

Left, the ruins of the keeper's house before reconstruction (courtesy of the Fayette family). Right, the reconstructed keeper's house in 2007.

Fred Fayette Jr. in the lantern room, May 24, 2007

Keepers:

(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 nelights@gmail.com. Anyone copying this list onto another web site does so at their own risk, as the list is always subject to updates and corrections.)

Frederick A. Sawyer (1825-1829); Malachai Corning (1829-1841); E. Jones (1841-1849); Luther Moore (1849-1854); Joseph Emerson (1854-1857); Joseph Tilison (1857-1861); George Collamer (1861-1862); William Bush (1862-1880); H. N. Parkhurst (1867-1868); Joseph Snow (1868-1870); George Burbank (1870); Herman Fountain (1870-1879 and 1880-1894);  Henry Clark (1879-1880); Frank Guyette (1894-1905); Alex Morrison Jr. (1894-1900); Robert Magee (1900-1901); Peter Kirby (assistant, 1901-1903); Herbert L. Perry 1903-1937); Joseph Aubin (1937-1941)