St. Anne's Shrine

In 1666, French forces built Fort Sainte Anne on Isle La Motte as part of a line of defenses along Lake Champlain, then a contested corridor between New France and its rivals. It was the first European settlement in the territory that would become Vermont, a small wooden fort at the top of the lake.

The soldiers and the missionaries who served them observed their faith at the fort, and the Mass celebrated here is remembered as the first in Vermont. The fort itself did not last long as the frontier shifted, but the memory of that beginning endured.

Centuries later the site was established as a shrine to honor that history, and the grounds today mark the location of the vanished fort with statuary, chapels, and quiet paths.

Long before the fort, the Champlain Islands and the lake around them were part of the homeland of the Abenaki, whose presence in this region reaches back thousands of years. The lake was a highway and a larder, its islands and shores places of travel, fishing, and gathering.

The arrival of the French, and the naming and building that came with them, was one chapter in a much longer human story here, not its start. The Abenaki are not a people of the past but a living community whose ties to this land continue.

Holding that fuller history in mind deepens a visit. The peaceful shore that feels timeless has been home and passage to people for a very long time, and the shrine occupies a small piece of a landscape rich with older meaning.

The devotional grounds are laid out beneath tall trees along the lakeshore, with open-air chapels, shrines, and statues set among lawns and paths. It is an unhurried, contemplative place, designed for walking slowly and pausing.

A prominent granite statue of Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who mapped the lake that bears his name, stands on the grounds, a reminder of the era of exploration that brought Europeans up these waters. Other statues and stations dot the property.

The Society of St. Edmund has cared for the shrine for generations, and pilgrims come for its Masses and devotions in the warm season. Visitors of any background are welcome to walk the grounds, sit by the water, and take in the quiet.

Summer is the shrine's active season, when the grounds are open, the devotions are held, and the lakeshore is at its most welcoming for a walk or a picnic. The island is green and calm, a place that rewards a slow visit.

Early fall brings color to the islands and cooler air off the lake, a beautiful and peaceful time before the season winds down. The light over the water is especially fine.

In the cold months the grounds rest and access narrows, the lake gray and the island still. The site keeps its quiet through the winter, waiting for the return of the pilgrims in spring.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.