The Lighthouse in Cape Egmont is getting a facelift.
In operation since 1884, the light has guided boats in the Northumberland Strait for 136 years.
“We didn’t have airplanes, we didn’t have trains in a lot of areas, so mostly the mode of travel was by ship,” said Carol Livingstone.
Livingstone, 77, is an avid lighthouse researcher and maintains an archive of information on nearly every lighthouse in P.E.I.
“Lighthouses, I always say, were built to welcome or to warn. To welcome you to a harbour or to warn of a cape or a reef or something.”
The lighthouse in Cape Egmont is getting new siding and windows so the structure can continue to welcome and warn navigators in the Northumberland Strait.
The 12.8-metre-tall lighthouse was built by Laurent Perry in 1883, for $1,695.
The square-tapered structure is the same shape as the lighthouses in Wood Islands and Cape Bear. The pedimented windows were a decorative touch, a gentle peak to shed water.
There was an attached dwelling for the lighthouse keeper and a separate oil shed.
“They couldn’t keep the oil in the lighthouse in case of fire,” said Livingstone. “They would only take into the lighthouse enough for one night. There was not excess oil kept in the lighthouse.”
Lighthouse keepers of Cape Egmont:
- Bruno Perry 1884 – 1900
- F.C. Arsenault 1900 – 1902
- Joseph Gallant 1902 – 1912
- Jean Wilfred Gallant (aka: Jack á Ferdinand) 1922 – 1950
- Edward Arsenault 1950 - 1958
Both the dwelling and the oil shed were removed in 1958, when the lighthouse was electrified and de-staffed.
But the signal remains important to navigators as the only marker on the 46-miles of coastline between Seacow Head and West Point.
“Every lighthouse, to distinguish it in those days, and to a certain degree, yet, they have a certain flash pattern. The flash pattern of that lighthouse is flash two seconds eclipse three seconds,” said Livingstone.
The Cap Egmont light can be seen for up to 12 miles.
“They (the lights) had to be able to be seen by a sailing ship when they were far enough out to be able to take evasive action if there was a reef or something,” said Livingstone.
To keep the light signalling properly, someone had to tend the light from one hour before sunset to one hour after sunrise, winding the weights to keep the light rotating consistently.
Sometime between 1920 and 1950, the weights were replaced with a generator and the keeper had to tend it just once per day near sundown.
The Cape Egmont lighthouse came under the Prince Edward Island Heritage Places Protection Act in 2012 and was awarded a Provincial Designated Heritage Place Plaque in 2013.
