Lake Memphremagog is a fifty-five-kilometre-long fresh water glacial lake that straddles the international border between Vermont and Quebec. Seventy-three percent of its surface area is in Quebec, but the majority of the lake’s watershed is in Vermont. The lake has twenty-one islands and drains into Magog River in Quebec.

Lake Memphremagog lies within the territory that was inhabited by the Abenaki tribe, and its name is derived from the Algonkian word Mamlawbagak, which means “a long and large sheet of water.”

Newport, Vermont is situated on the southern end of the lake, while Magog, Quebec is located at the northern end of the lake, where it empties into Magog River.

In 1878, the Department of Marine had five small lighthouses built to improve navigation on Lake Memphremagog. The following information on these towers is from the Annual Report of the Department of Marine for 1878:

An appropriation was made by Parliament at its last session of $1,000 for the erection of five small beacon light towers on Lake Memphremagog, and tenders were invited and the contract for the construction of these lights was awarded to Mr. Nathan A. Beach, of Georgeville, for $975. The towers have been built to the satisfaction of the Department, and the lights were shown for the first time in September last. Temporary keepers were employed to attend to them during the balance of the season, and were allowed remuneration for their services at the rate of one dollar per week during the time the lights were in operation.

One of these five lighthouses was placed on Wadleigh Point, which is located on the west shore of the lake roughly a kilometre north of Lords Island (Ile Lord). Wadleigh Point Lighthouse was a square, wooden, pyramidal tower that stood twenty-two feet tall and exhibited a fixed white light at a focal plane of thirty feet above the water.

In 1914, W.H. Davis and J.D. Cowan of Mansonville received $371 to construct a fifteen-foot-tall wooden lighthouse at Wadleigh Point and install a fifth-order dioptric lens in its lantern room. The men also rebuilt Black Point Lighthouse, Lead Mines Lighthouse, and Molson Island Lighthouse on Lake Memphremagog the same year.

John A Paterson served as keeper of Wadleigh Point Lighthouse from 1885 through at least 1923.

Light Lists indicate a square, wooden tower was in service on Wadleigh Point through at least 1954. There is no navigational aid near the island today. A modern light is activate at Bryant’s Landing, just north of Wadleigh Point.

Keepers: L.H. Wadleigh (1879 – 1880), J.C. Wadleigh (1881 – 1884), John A. Patterson (1885 – at least 1923).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine, various years.

No light is found on the point today.

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