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KLMNO The Impulsive Traveler A short island with a very long history BY NANCY TREJOS There are no traffic lights on Lake
Champlain’smost remoteandleastcom- mercialized island.As longtime resident Linda Fitch told me, “Two cars meeting at the four corners of Isle La Motte constitute our version of a traffic jam.” Don’t expect to find a huge selection
of restaurants, hotels and shops on Isle La Motte, Vt., either. The first time I drove through, I missed the “town cen- ter,” a crossroads with a country store, a post office and a library. “It’s like time stopped here,” said
Matthew LeFebvre-Bean, the innkeeper at Terry Lodge. “We’re off the beaten path.” Way off. Just seven miles long and two
miles wide, the island is almost as close toMontreal as it is to Burlington. But it feels neither here nor there. If you ever want to drop off the face of the earth for a few days, this would be the place to go to. Fewer than 500 people live on the island year-round. But just because it’s small and sleepy
doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to do. In fact, you can argue that Isle LaMotte offers the most unusual attractions of the Champlain Islands, which consist of five separate towns. The southern third of Isle La Motte contains remnants of the Chazy Reef, which, at 480 million years old, is considered the oldest reef in the world where corals first appeared. It was formed in a tropical sea straddling the equator, and it once stretched 1,000 miles. Last year, the federal government designated the reef a national natural landmark. It took scientists quite a while to
figure out Isle La Motte’s significance. Throughout the 19th century, five quar- ries produced black and gray limestone that was polished into a marblelike finish and used in building Radio City MusicHall inNewYorkandtheNational Gallery of Art in Washington. Quarry workers found strange forms in the rock and couldn’t figure out what they were. Finally, paleontologists identified them as marine fossils. More than 100 acres of the fossil reef
are now protected in two preserves: the Fisk Quarry Preserve and the Goodsell Ridge Preserve. My mother and I started our explora-
tion of the reef at the visitors center and museum at the 81-acre Goodsell Ridge site. There we learned that in the an- cient ocean all those millions of years ago, organisms with hard calcium exo- skeletons, including the first known species of coral, began building the reef. Giant sponge-shaped creatures called stromatoporoids joined them. Also found in the ecosystem: the trilobite, the ancestor of the modern horseshoe crab, and the cephalopod, an earlier form of the squid. It felt like being back in high school
science class. The lesson continued out- doors on four walking trails where you can peer into the rocks and search for cephalopods and gastropods and bryo- zoa and any number of organisms that I couldn’t really tell apart. “There’s some- thing,” I would say to my mom as I
IFYOUGO
Want to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Isle La Motte, Vt.? Here’swhat you need to knowfor theweekend of Nov. 19-21:
GETTING THERE US Airways offers nonstop flights from Ronald Reagan National Airport to Burlington from $260. Isle La Motte is 44 miles from the airport.
WHERE TO STAY Adams Landing Bed&Breakfast 1 Adams Landing Rd. Ext., Grand Isle 802-372-4830
www.adamslandingvt.com Waterfront property on nearby Grand Isle with three rooms. Rates from $110.
The North Hero House 3643 U.S. Rural Route 2, North Hero Village 802-372-4732
www.northherohouse.com Historic 26-room inn overlooking Lake Champlain in the next town over from Isle La Motte. Rates from $110.
Thirsty after our walk, we found a
fruit stand nearby where we indulged in some Vermont apple cider. Then we visited the island’s other famous attrac- tion: St. Anne’s Shrine. The shift from the scientific to the spiritual was a little dislocating. The shrine sits on the shore at the
original site of Fort St. Anne, Vermont’s oldest European settlement, with a mag- nificent view of the Adirondack Moun- tains. It was on this spot that the first French explorer to reach the region, Samuel deChamplain, landed in 1609.A statue of him towers over the property, and when we arrived, a French Canadi- an family was posing for photos in front of it. It’s believed that the first Mass in the Northeast was celebrated here. My mother, a devoutCatholic,wasintrigued by this bit of history. We walked around the 13 acres of grounds, studying the rustic grottoes and the Stations of the Cross. But the shrine isn’t just a place for praying. On this mid-September day, several tables were filled with families having picnics. We had our own little family outing at
Fisk Farm, just north of the quarry property. Its claim to fame is as the place where Vice President Teddy Roosevelt was having lunch in 1901 when he learned that President William McKin- ley had been fatally shot. It also offers visitor accommodations during the summer and early fall in the form of two spacious cottages overlooking the lake. OnSunday afternoons in thesummer,
PHOTOS BY NANCY TREJOS/THE WASHINGTON POST
St. Anne’s Shrine, top, sits on the site ofVermont’s oldest European settlement. The Fisk Quarry Preserve, above, includes wetlands with ponds and marshes.
spotted an interesting shape. Then she’d find something embedded in the rock and point it out to me. It was a fun, scavenger-hunt-like excursion. A short drive away was the 20-acre
Fisk property. We took a brief stroll to the quarry, taking in the beautiful lake views. Fitch, who runs the Isle LaMotte Preservation Trust, which manages the preserves, joined us. Since the quarrying
activities ceased, a system of wetlands with ponds and marshes has developed on the land. The rock formations re- main, creating a sort of mini-canyon that’s a draw for local teens. Sure enough, we found two teenagers climb- ing the rocks. “I have to laugh. It remindsmeofmy boys at that age,” Fitch told us. “Kids have always been fascinat- ed by the quarry.”
Fisk Farm bustles with activity, offering free concerts, an art show and tea. A barn on the property houses an art gallery. I strolled around the barn taking in the watercolor paintings of Mary Coelho, of Cambridge,Mass. “Time in a Garden” seemed particu-
larly apropos for the setting. As Coelho described in a note accompanying the painting: “For too many years, I hurried through the day, often checking my watch to maintain a busy schedule. But the natural world . . . knows nothing about this type of time.” Neither does Isle LaMotte.
trejosn@washpost.com
WHERE TO EAT The North Hero House Restaurant Charming restaurant in the North Hero House Inn with entrees starting at $18. A bar menu with sandwiches and salads starting at $9 is also available.
Shores Acres Inn and Restaurant 237 Shore Acres Dr., North Hero Island 802-372-8722
www.shoreacres.com Upscale restaurant a short drive from Isle La Motte. Dinner entrees such as filet mignon and mustard-glazed salmon start at $22.95 and are served Friday and Saturday.
WHAT TO DO Fisk Quarry Preserve and Goodsell Ridge Preserve Isle La Motte 802-928-3364
www.ilmpt.org Contain remnants of the Chazy Reef. The visitor’s center closed Oct. 11, but the trails and grounds are open from dawn to dusk.
St. Anne’s Shrine 92 Saint Anne’s Rd.
www.saintannesshrine.org 802-928-3362 Outdoor shrine on 13 acres overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.
INFORMATION
www.islelamotte.org www.champlainislands.com
—N.T.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010
MoreTravel this week
FRIDAY Escapes gets crafty at some western Pennsylvania museums, inWeekend.
NEXT SUNDAY The Impulsive Traveler hops to it in the breweries
of St. Louis, in Travel.
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