Fisk Farm (so called in the old deeds) is located on Isle La Motte, VT, the northernmost island of Lake Champlain near the Canadian border. It overlooks the lake and the Adirondack Mountains to the west.
It was originally settled by Ichabod Ebenezer Fisk who came to Isle la Motte in 1776 and ran a black and grey marble quarry adjoining the homestead. In 1800 a beautiful stone house was built by Samuel Fisk. Over the years Fisk Farm became an estate and a showplace of the north country with several hundred acres of famland, the elegant horse and carriage barn, and deer park. British officers were billeted in the house during the War of 1812.
Toward the end of the 19th Century, Nelson Fisk became Lieutenant Governor and his home was visited by such distinguished guests as President McKinley and Vice President Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt was visiting the Fisk Estate when the news reached him that McKinley had been shot.
Nelson Fisk died in 1923 and the great stone house burned in 1924 bringing the glory days of Fisk Farm to an end. Most of the land was sold along with the barn to the Halls, an old and respected Isle La Motte farming family who, to this day, run the family orchard. When the Fitch family bought the property in 1970, three acres remained of the original Fisk Farm with the old store and post office (now the Main House), the Ice House (now a guest cottage), the Shore Cottage, and the romantic ruins of the great stone house. In 1994 we bought the old Fisk Horse and Carriage Barn along with ten acres of land from the Hall family and with the help of the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation began to restore the barn.
This is what my parents, Violet and Lyle Fitch, bought in 1970 and which has served as a haven for family and friends for 26 years. In 1994 we bought the old Fisk Horse and Carriage Barn along with ten acres of land from the Hall family, and with the help of the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation we have begun to restore the barn.
Fisk Farm now functions as a retreat for family and friends, and a bed and breakfast for guests. We host tea gardens, art exhibits and craft shows in the barn, and offer occasional concerts, poetry readings and workshops.
Fisk Farm continues to serve as a place of rest, respite and restoration for all who come.