Meet the 83-year-old marina keeper preserving hundreds of years of Vermont history

ORWELL, Vt. (Aging Untold) — At one of the narrowest points on Lake Champlain, a piece of Vermont’s maritime past is still standing — and still in use.

For more than 30 years, 83-year-old Pat Ullom and her son have run Chipman Point Marina.

Chipman Point was once where “all the goods landed,” Ullom said.

A landing point for 1800s commerce

In the 1800s, the area was a busy maritime community close to New York state.

The marina’s main stone building was built in 1810 and quarried from the property itself. Boats once unloaded cargo directly into the building through its doorways, and the second floor functioned “more like a grocery store.”

Ullom said the beams inside are original to the building.

“Yeah, yeah, I do that a lot,” Ullom said, when asked if she ever looks out at the water and imagines what the property looked like in 1810.

A store that’s kept its character for a century

Next to the 1810 stone building stands a structure built in 1824 that has operated as a store for almost 100 years.

Pat Ullom keeps the candy on the counter and the coffee, still priced at 25 cents a cup, flowing.

Part of the original floor remains intact. Ullom said a previous owner who had the property for 50 years used to chew tobacco, leaving marks still visible in the wood today.

With boating season underway, the marina is picking up activity again.

Living above the history she preserves

Ullom lives on the third floor of the 1824 building. She said she doesn’t see herself as the building’s owner, but as someone passing through it.

“I don’t feel that I own it,” Ullom said. “I feel that I’ve been lucky enough to live here.”

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