The Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve is located in Isle La Motte. This 85-acre preserve offers year-round free access to 480 million-year-old fossils from the Chazy Fossil Reef. Visitors can take a self-guided tour of the fossils and continue to explore the beautiful former farm fields on longer trails traversing the property. Volunteers sometimes staff the visitor’s center seasonally. 

The Lake Champlain Land Trust purchased and saved Goodsell Ridge from potential quarrying and development back in 2005 after a multiple-year campaign in partnership with the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust. The property is home to the oldest reef fossils in the world. Our partners at the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust spent years successfully seeking designation for the Chazy Reef as a National Natural Landmark. The partners just recently added a key addition to provide better access for school groups to visit.

The Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve was conserved in partnership with the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and the Lake Champlain Land Trust. The Isle La Motte Preservation Trust owns and manages the property and generously supplies the volunteer docents managing the visitors center. 

To reach the parking area, enter 69 Pine Street, Isle La Motte, VT into your GPS device or online mapping application.

From the South: Take Exit 17 off of I-89 and get on US-2 west toward the Champlain Islands. After crossing the bridge between North Hero and Alburgh, look for VT-129 on your left. Follow Route 129 to Isle La Motte. This road then becomes Main Road. Follow this south until you see Quarry Road and the Historical Society on your left. Take Quarry Road for a quarter of a mile. You will see a large brown and white sign for Goodsell Ridge Preserve on your left. Pull into the driveway and park on the grass or along the driveway.

From the North: Take US-2 east. Turn right onto VT-129. Follow VT-129 to Isle La Motte. This road then becomes Main Road. Follow this south until you see Quarry Road and the Historical Society on your left. Take Quarry Road for a quarter of a mile. You will see a large brown and white sign for Goodsell Ridge Preserve on your left. Pull into the driveway and park on the grass or along the driveway.

Isle La Motte, the northernmost and most remote of the Champlain Islands, is 7 miles long by 2 miles wide and lies close to where Lake Champlain empties into the Richelieu River. It is the place where Samuel De Champlain first landed, in 1609, on the lake that now bears his name. Isle La Motte’s European settlement history goes back to the 17th century. A French fort was built in 1666 on the site that is now St. Anne’s Shrine. The island gets its name from the builder of the fort, Pierre De La Motte. As early as 1832 Fisk Quarry exported a beautiful dark limestone called black marble to cities in the south, and this fossil-laden rock can be found in the U.S. Capitol building and the National Gallery of Art. In the mid-1800s orchards, vineyards, and dairy farms flourished on the island, which was then connected to the mainland by ferry during the warmer months and by foot or wagon over the ice in winter. In 1878 the town was incorporated for the sole purpose of building a bridge to Alburgh, and the bridge was completed in 1882. Today Isle La Motte has a general store, two churches, a post office and library, an elementary school, and a historical society. About 500 residents call the island home year-round. This number swells many times over in the summer months when the beauty of the island and access to the lake attracts many vacationers, bikers, and part-time residents. Saint Anne’s Shrine brings in tourists from both Vermont and Canada, and the Goodsell Ridge Preserve is a mecca for scientists and others interested in the unique geology of the island.