Location | Grand Manan, Grand Manan, Grand Manan, Canada |
---|---|
Coordinates | 44°46′N66°44′W / 44.76°N 66.73°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1859 |
Foundation | stone |
Construction | wood |
Automated | 1986 |
Height | 16.2 m (53 ft) |
Shape | octagonal tower [1] |
Markings | white tower, red lantern |
Heritage | Recognized Heritage Federal Building (1991) [2] |
Fog signal | Horn: blast 2 s; sil. 18 s. Horn points 100° |
Light | |
First lit | 1860 |
Focal height | 37.1 m (122 ft) |
Range | 4 nmi (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) |
Characteristic | Fl4 s; eclipse 2s |
The Swallowtail Lighthouse is a Canadian lighthouse located on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy. [3] It was the first lighthouse to be built on the island. It was first lit on 7 July 1860 and was automated and de-staffed in 1986.
The wreck of the merchant ship Lord Ashburton in 1857 on the northern tip of Grand Manan, with the loss of 21 lives, led the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly to call for "a Light House to be erected on the Northern Head of Grand Manan". [4] The site chosen was a headland called the "Swallow's Tail" near the entrance to the harbour at North Head. The lighthouse tower and keeper's dwelling were built in 1859 at a cost of £495 and the lantern was first lit on 7 July 1860. [5] : 17 It was the first lighthouse to be built on the island of Grand Manan. [6]
The light was originally provided by nine lamps and reflectors, which were later increased to ten. In 1887 a lens replaced the lamps and reflectors. In 1907 a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed, providing 360° coverage. [4]
A wooden tower was built in 1914 to house a fog bell. The fog bell tower was moved in 1920 to a position closer to the lighthouse. In 1958 a new keeper's house was built, replacing the original dwelling. In the 1960s the lighthouse keeper had a boathouse moved from another lighthouse to the Swallowtail light station. In 1980 the fog bell was removed and put on display at the Grand Manan Museum. The lighthouse was automated and de-staffed in 1986. [5] : 18
The lighthouse, which is visible from the ferry as it approaches and leaves the terminus at North Head, has been called "the island's signature vista". [7] It has regularly featured in New Brunswick tourism materials and has been recognized by the federal government as "a long-standing symbol of the maritime heritage of the region". [2]
The village of North Head purchased the de-staffed but still operational light station's land and buildings, other than the lighthouse tower, from the federal government in 1994. In 1996 it became the property of the newly amalgamated village of Grand Manan. The lighthouse keeper's residence was used as a bed and breakfast for several years, closing in 2004. In 2008 the village council announced plans to sell the house, but reversed the decision in the face of the community's negative response. An organization called Save Swallowtail was formed in order to clean up and repair the building. [8] In 2009 the village leased the keeper's house to the organization, which had become the Swallowtail Keepers Society, for 20 years. [5] : 19
In 2010, Swallowtail light was included on a list of 976 lighthouses declared "surplus" by the Canadian Coast Guard. [9] The Swallowtail Keepers Society undertook to acquire and maintain the lighthouse and remaining property, and received a $55,000 grant from the New Brunswick government at a ceremony marking the Swallowtail's 150th anniversary. [10]
In 2012 the fog bell, which had been housed at the Grand Manan Museum since 1980, was returned to the site, where it is displayed on a new wooden deck near the keeper's house. [4]
The Swallowtail Keepers Society took over the lighthouse property in July 2013. Later that year, federal, provincial and municipal government grants and community fundraising resulted in over $200,000 "to build a boardwalk, improve the footbridge, produce marketing materials and cover project administrative costs at the iconic lighthouse". [11]
In 2023 the lighthouse underwent major repairs and had its shingles replaced at a cost of over $500,000, which was fundraised over two years and included federal and provincial government contributions. The Canadian Coast Guard used a helicopter to transport the construction materials to the site. [12]
The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The name is probably a corruption of the French word fendu, meaning 'split'.
Grand Manan is a Canadian island in the Bay of Fundy, part of the province of New Brunswick. Grand Manan is also the name of an incorporated village, which includes the main island and numerous nearby islands; White Head Island, small islands near it, and Machias Seal Island are not part of the village.
Machias Seal Island is an island in disputed water between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, about 16 km (10 mi) southeast from Cutler, Maine, and 19 km (12 mi) southwest of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. Sovereignty of the island is disputed by the United States and Canada. The Canadian Coast Guard continues to staff a lighthouse on the island; the first lighthouse was constructed there in 1832.
White Head Island is an island located in the Bay of Fundy. It is off the east coast of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. In 2011 the island had a population of 162. White Head Island was governed as a local service district prior to the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reform.
Fundy Cable was a Canadian cable television provider, which served all major New Brunswick communities except for the Sackville area at the time of its purchase by Shaw Communications for 312M USD in 1999. Its operations were later acquired by Rogers Cable.
Alcatraz Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse—the first one built on the U.S. West Coast—located on Alcatraz Island in California's San Francisco Bay. It is located at the southern end of the island near the entrance to the prison. The first light house on the island was completed in 1854, and served the bay during its time as a Citadel and military prison. It was replaced by a taller concrete tower built in 1909 to the south of the original one which was demolished after it was damaged due to earthquake in 1906. The automation of the lighthouse with a modern beacon took place in 1963, the year Alcatraz closed as the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. It is the oldest light station on the island with a modern beacon and is part of the museum on the island. Although when viewed from afar it easily looks the tallest structure on Alcatraz, it is actually shorter than the Alcatraz Water Tower, but as it lies on higher ground it looks much taller.
The Lynde Point Light or Lynde Point Lighthouse, also known as Saybrook Inner Lighthouse, is a lighthouse in Connecticut, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Connecticut River on the Long Island Sound, Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The first light was a 35 feet (11 m) wooden tower constructed by Abisha Woodward for $2,200 and it was completed in 1803. A new lighthouse was eventually needed and a total of $7,500 was appropriated on July 7, 1838. Jonathan Scranton, Volney Pierce, and John Wilcox were contracted to build the new 65-foot (20 m) octagonal brownstone tower. It was constructed in 1838 and lit in 1839. The lighthouse was renovated in 1867 and had its keeper's house from 1833 replaced in 1858 with a Gothic Revival gambrel-roofed wood-frame house. In 1966, the house was torn down and replaced by a duplex house. The original ten lamps were replaced in 1852 with a fourth-order Fresnel lens, and with a fifth-order Fresnel lens in 1890. Lynde Point Lighthouse used whale oil until 1879 when it switched to kerosene. It was electrified in 1955 and fully automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1978. In 1990, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and is significant for its "superior stone work in the tapering brownstone walls".
Point Lookout Light is a lighthouse that marks the entrance to the Potomac River at the southernmost tip of Maryland's western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, south of the town of Scotland in Saint Mary's County, Maryland, USA. The lighthouse is located in Point Lookout State Park. It is not open to the public.
Marshall Point Light Station is a lighthouse at the entrance of Port Clyde Harbor in Port Clyde, Maine. The light station was established in 1832.
The Burnt Island Light, built in 1821, is the second oldest surviving lighthouse in Maine. It hosts a living history museum run by the state Department of Marine Resources. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Burnt Island Light Station on November 23, 1977.
Bear Island Light is a lighthouse on Bear Island near Mt. Desert Island, at the entrance to Northeast Harbor, Maine. It was first established in 1839. The present structure was built in 1889. It was deactivated in 1981 and relit as a private aid to navigation by the Friends of Acadia National Park in 1989. Bear Island Light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Bear Island Light Station on March 14, 1988.
Libby Island Light is a lighthouse on Libby Island, marking the mouth of Machias Bay, in Machiasport, Maine. The light station was established in 1817 and is an active aid to navigation; the present granite tower was built in 1823 and improved in 1848. Libby Island Light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Libby Island Light Station on June 18, 1976.
The history of lighthouses in Canada dates to 1734.
The Cape Spencer Light is an active lighthouse on the Bay of Fundy east of Saint John, New Brunswick. There have been several towers at this site: the first was a wooden house built in 1873, which was succeeded by a concrete tower in 1918. The present fiberglass tower was erected in 1983 to replace a skeletal tower first lit in 1971.
The Gannet Rock Lighthouse is a Canadian lighthouse located on a rocky islet 8 miles (13 km) south of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. It was first lit in 1831 and was staffed until 1996. It was solarized in 2002 and remains operational in 2023. It was declared "surplus to requirements" by the Canadian Coast Guard in 2010 and is no longer being maintained.
The Lord Ashburton was a merchant ship built in 1843 at St. Andrews, New Brunswick. She was wrecked in a nor'easter on Grand Manan Island in January 1857 en route from Toulon to Saint John, New Brunswick.
The Long Eddy Point Lighthouse is a Canadian lighthouse on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy. The navigation station was first established in 1874 as a fog alarm only and operated as such until 1966, when the present structure was built incorporating a lighthouse. The building has been designated a heritage lighthouse under Canada's Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act.
The Grand Harbour Lighthouse was a Canadian lighthouse marking the entrance to Grand Harbour, Grand Manan, New Brunswick. It was built and first lit in 1879 and was decommissioned in 1963. It was severely damaged in the Groundhog Day gale of 1976 and destroyed by a gale in November 2013.
Head Harbour Lighthouse, also known as East Quoddy Head Light is a lighthouse and station on Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Erected in 1829 by the provincial government, its purpose was to aid navigation for ships in the Bay of Fundy. While West Quoddy Light stands at the mouth of the narrows around Lubec, Maine, East Quoddy was built on the north side of Campobello, on a small tidal islet connected to the primary landmass, guiding entry into Passamaquoddy Bay. Today, the light and its accessory structures are a historically designated heritage site, supported by an independent preservation group.
The Beacon Light was a lighthouse in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It was located in the Saint John Harbour's entrance and sat atop a wooden pier in the harbour. It was first erected in 1828 and rebuilt in 1868 after being destroyed by fire the year prior. It was discontinued in 1913 and burned.