Bluff Point Light, also known as the Valcour Island Light, on Valcour Island in Lake Champlain was in service from its construction in 1874 until 1930 and was one of the last lighthouses on Lake Champlain to be named. It is now part of Adirondack State Park and operated as a museum by the Clinton County Historical Association, an affiliate of the Adirondack Coast Cultural Alliance (ACCA).Bluff Point Light, for which the United States Congress approved $15,000 in funding in 1870, with a base of blue limestone, stands more than above the shore. The grounds also include a wooden shed (which has since collapsed and was removed), a cistern and a privy. For almost sixty years, the lighthouse and its fifth order Frensel lens guided ships through the channel between Valcour Island and New York State. As was the case with many other lighthouses, the lighthouse keeper for Bluff Point Light was a disabled Civil War veteran, Major William Herwerth, who worked at the lighthouse from 1876 until 1881 when he died while on duty. In an unusual position for a woman at that time, Herwerth's wife Mary was given command of the lighthouse, which she maintained until 1902.In 1930, the lighthouse ceased operation when a steel tower with an automated light was built to the south of the lighthouse, rendering the lighthouse obsolete. The lighthouse remained unlit until 2002 when the United States Coast Guard lit it in August 2002, although it was not officially put back into service until 2004.
