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 the wharf at Chateau da Silva, a hotel on the western shore of lake just north of Molson Island. Chateau da Silva Lighthouse was a square, wooden, pyramidal tower that stood twenty-two feet tall and exhibited a fixed white light at a focal plane of twenty feet above the water.

Chateau da Silva was a summer resort hotel that was built in the 1870s about three miles north of Perkins Landing. In April 1882, fire destroyed Chateau da Silva, and it was not rebuilt. No record of the lighthouse appears after the fire, so it might have been destroyed or discontinued at that time.

References

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

No light is found at this location today.

Find the closest hotels to Chateau da Silva Lighthouse