Wender·Vista
Isle La Motte St Anne's Shrine
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileVermont
on the northernmost island in Lake Champlain

Isle La Motte St Anne's Shrine

— — the small bay where Vermont's first chapel stood.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A Catholic shrine on the western shore of Isle La Motte, on the site of Fort Sainte Anne, the first European settlement in what is now Vermont, built by French troops under Captain Pierre de la Motte in 1666. The Edmundite Fathers have run the shrine since 1893. An outdoor chapel sits among cedars on the lakeshore, and a bronze statue of Samuel de Champlain stands in the lawn.

from the studio
Isle La Motte St Anne's Shrine
— bring it home

Isle La Motte St Anne's Shrine, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Isle La Motte St Anne's Shrine

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Isle La Motte is the northernmost and smallest of the four large islands in Lake Champlain, covering about seven square miles in the northwestern arm of the lake. The shrine occupies the western shore of the island, on or very near the site of Fort Sainte Anne, established in 1666 by Captain Pierre de la Motte and a French garrison of roughly three hundred soldiers. The Society of Saint Edmund, a Catholic missionary order based in Vermont, has operated the shrine and retreat grounds since 1893.

— the stone

The island is best known to geologists for the Chazy Reef, a 480-million-year-old fossil reef formation that runs along its western shore and is among the oldest known biologically diverse reefs on earth. The local Isle La Motte limestone, quarried here through the nineteenth century, was used in landmark buildings including parts of the U.S. Capitol, Radio City Music Hall, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The shrine grounds and the Goodsell Ridge Preserve both lie on the reef.

— the visit

The shrine grounds are open to the public free of charge from mid-May through mid-October, with the outdoor chapel, a covered pavilion, a small museum, and a quarter-mile walking path along the shoreline. Mass is celebrated daily in season, and pilgrim buses arrive from across New England and Quebec. The island is reached by causeway from North Hero and from Alburgh, about thirty miles north of Burlington by Vermont Route 129 and U.S. Route 2.

— informed by Society of Saint Edmund
— where
United States · Isle La Motte, Grand Isle County, Vermont
— within
St. Anne's Shrine
— position
44.8825° N · 73.3417° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
1 km S
Fisk Quarry Preserve
fossil reef preserve
3 km S
Goodsell Ridge Preserve
fossil reef preserve
12 km S
North Hero village
village
15 km NE
Alburgh village
village
N
Isle La Motte St Anne's Shrine
Fisk Quarry Preserve
Goodsell Ridge Preserve
North Hero village
Alburgh village
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Isle La Motte St Anne's Shrine — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

A Catholic shrine on the western shore of Isle La Motte, on the site of Fort Sainte Anne: the first European settlement in what is now Vermont, built in 1666. The Society of Saint Edmund has run the shrine since 1893.

The fort was built in 1666 by Captain Pierre de la Motte and a French garrison of about three hundred soldiers, as a defence against Mohawk raids on the route to Montreal. It was abandoned within a few years.

A 480-million-year-old fossil reef formation along the western shore of Isle La Motte, among the oldest known biologically diverse reefs on earth. Parts of it are preserved at Goodsell Ridge and Fisk Quarry.

Yes. The black-grey limestone, quarried on the island through the nineteenth century, was used in parts of the U.S. Capitol, Radio City Music Hall, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Yes. The grounds, museum, walking path, and outdoor chapel are open free of charge to anyone from mid-May through mid-October. Visitors of any background, or none, are welcome to walk the lakeshore quietly.

Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who reached the lake that bears his name in 1609. The bronze, by Vermont sculptor F.L. Weber, was cast for the 1967 Expo in Montreal and installed at the shrine afterward.

— about the piece in your home

The shrine is a place of pilgrimage for many New England and Quebec Catholics. A Small or Medium with a handwritten studio note travels well for a parishioner, a retreatant, or a former student of Saint Michael's College.

The piece reads naturally in a library-traditional, French-country, or warm-modern setting. Its lakeshore and cedar palette sits well beside walnut, brass, and a deeper blue or forest green.

The piece fits the steady contemplative-modern and quiet-room moods that have grown over the last decade, and pairs cleanly with a more restrained Japandi or monastic-minimalist setting.

A single Large centres well above a standard sofa. A 4-tile Mural extends across a longer wall, and a 9-tile Mural anchors a great room, chapel, or retreat-house entry.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both resist scratching and humidity. The Glossy finish is reserved for wall pieces in drier rooms.

Microfibre cloth and water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it cannot lift or fade with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece comes from Reid Wender's eye and is hand-finished in our Knoxville studio. We do not license, resell, or reproduce work from outside artists.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

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