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Juniper Island (Lake Champlain)

Islands of Lake ChamplainLake islands of VermontLandforms of Chittenden County, VermontSouth Burlington, Vermont
Rock Dunder and Juniper Island, Lake Champlain, Vt (NYPL b12647398 75775)
Rock Dunder and Juniper Island, Lake Champlain, Vt (NYPL b12647398 75775)

Juniper Island is a 13-acre (53,000 m2) island in Lake Champlain, approximately 3.15-mile (5.07 km) southwest of Burlington, Vermont's King Street Ferry Dock. The island is home to the Juniper Island Lighthouse. The State of Vermont purchased the island for $200 in 1825 and ceded it to the federal government. A 30-foot (9.1 m) brick tower and keeper's house were constructed. Up to that point, lanterns hung on trees by landowners up and down the lake had served navigation; this would be the first true lighthouse on the lake.Apparently due to poor workmanship or materials or both, the original lighthouse had to be replaced less than twenty years later. That second lighthouse (a 25-foot (7.6 m) tower consisting of four cast iron rings) is still there, though retired, and is the oldest cast iron lighthouse remaining in the US.A 60-foot (18 m) skeleton tower light took over in 1954. Two years later, Juniper Island was sold at auction to state senator Fred Fayette. The keeper's house was severely damaged by fire in 1962 and not repaired, though the tower and a separate shed for a fog bell were undamaged. Fayette's family inherited the property, and in 2001 they constructed a new dwelling using nearly 18,000 bricks salvaged from the ruins of the original house. Two years later a new, taller tower replaced that of 1954. The family plans to restore the old tower, but it is unlikely to be relit (as has been done with other lights on the lake) since trees on the island obscure it from the water.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Juniper Island (Lake Champlain) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Juniper Island (Lake Champlain)
Lands End Lane,

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Wikipedia: Juniper Island (Lake Champlain)Continue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 44.45 ° E -73.276666666667 °
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Juniper Island Light

Lands End Lane

Vermont, United States
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Rock Dunder and Juniper Island, Lake Champlain, Vt (NYPL b12647398 75775)
Rock Dunder and Juniper Island, Lake Champlain, Vt (NYPL b12647398 75775)
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Rock Dunder
Rock Dunder

Rock Dunder is a tiny rock island extending just above the waters of Lake Champlain roughly 2.8 miles (4.5 km) southwest from the Burlington, Vermont ferry dock. The water level averages 95.5 feet (29.1 m) above sea level, and the rock protrudes only a few feet above that. The island becomes somewhat larger at low water. Rock Dunder and much larger nearby Juniper Island (visible in the background of the picture) are remnants of a large belt of Utica slate which once filled Lake Champlain from Shelburne to South Hero, part of a belt extending northward from the Hudson River. The base of the rock is strewn with large boulders of Winooski limestone and Laurentian gneiss. According to Abenaki legend, Oodzee-hozo ("he who created himself") lived before the invention of legs. As he dragged his body around, he created mountains, valleys and rivers, as well as Lake Champlain, which is holy to the Abenaki. Oodzee-hozo turned himself into this rock in the lake, and there his spirit lives.An 1896 newspaper article says the Huron and Iroquois would meet here at what they called Wujahose to make their treaties. While there is similarity between this name and the Abenakis', the question arises as to whether the Iroquois and Huron knew of or cared about the Abenaki legend and whether they would have been meeting here if they believed it was the embodiment of such a powerful spirit. The rock has often been mistaken for another ship on the foggy lake, and legend has it parts of the rock were blasted away throughout the Revolutionary war. Rock Dunder owes its name to one such incident. At the height of the Battle of Plattsburgh a British vessel mistakenly fired on the rock, then obscured by fog. When the officer discovered his mistake he is said to have cried out "It's a rock, by Dunder!", earning the place its name.