A different kind of island
Isle La Motte is the smallest and quietest of the Champlain Islands — a flat limestone island of farm fields, old quarries and near-empty roads. Beneath it lies something globally rare: the Chazy Fossil Reef, one of the oldest known coral reefs on Earth.
The Chazy Fossil Reef
Around 480 million years old, the reef is exposed in the island’s limestone and preserved at sites like Fisk Quarry and Goodsell Ridge, now nature preserves with trails and interpretive signs. Walking here, you can put your hand on the fossilized remains of a tropical sea that predates the dinosaurs by hundreds of millions of years — a National Natural Landmark.
St. Anne’s Shrine
The island is also where Vermont’s recorded European history begins: Fort Sainte Anne was built here in 1666, and today St. Anne’s Shrine occupies the site — a peaceful lakeside sanctuary with gardens, a beach and picnic grounds open to all.
A slow island day
Isle La Motte rewards a bicycle and no schedule. Loop its quiet paved roads past the quarries and shrine, picnic on the western shore facing New York, and enjoy a corner of Vermont almost untouched by traffic.
Good to know
How old is the Chazy Fossil Reef?+
About 480 million years — one of the oldest known coral reefs on Earth, and a National Natural Landmark.
Can I visit the fossils?+
Yes — Fisk Quarry and Goodsell Ridge are open preserves with trails and interpretive signs on Isle La Motte.
What is St. Anne’s Shrine?+
A lakeside Catholic shrine on the site of Fort Sainte Anne (1666), Vermont’s first European settlement, with gardens and a public beach.