FHBRO # 90-261

LOL # 953

BUILT 1853

POSITION 46 08 39.2 N 62 27 59.6 W on the South East extremity of Cardigan Bay in eastern PEI, overlooking Georgetown Harbour

LIGHT White: flash, 4 seconds; eclipse, 4 seconds

FOCAL POINT 25.0 m (82 ft)

TOWER HEIGHT 17.7 m (58 ft)

NOMINAL RANGE 27.3 km (17 miles)

The Panmure Island Lighthouse was the second lighthouse to be built on PEI. In 1853, Panmure Island was a sand hill, not connected by a narrow isthmus as it is today. The lighthouse guided shipping to three rivers: Cardigan River, Brudenell River and Montague River. The fact that ships went aground trying to go up St. Mary’s Bay was probably the reason why the lighthouse was located on Panmure Island and not on nearby Boughton Island. Early newspapers indicate there was keen competition as to which site would be selected.

It was the first wooden lighthouse and also the first octagonal lighthouse on the Island. The heavy timbered, octagonal towers were typical of the Colonial, pre-Confederation lighthouses. The four-storey lighthouse has a shingled exterior and a masonry foundation. Straight wooden stairs connect the four levels. It is particularly attractive with its good proportions, corbelled cornice, brackets beneath the lantern deck and pedimented caps over the windows and doors. The tower is painted white. During the 1990’s, the Canadian Coast Guard painted the decorative elements red, which adds to the distinctive appearance.

When the station was electrified in 1958 a generator room was constructed on the first floor of the tower. There was a fog alarm building adjacent to the lighthouse until the early seventies when the fog alarm equipment was placed in the tower; the related ventilator hoods were visible on the exterior of the tower. They were removed in the mid-nineties, and the window replaced. All back-up generators and fog alarms were removed in the 1990’s.

There is also a keeper’s dwelling which was built in 1957. The dwelling has been sold to the daughter of a former keeper, William MacDonald. Margaret and Roger MacLeod now operate the lighthouse on behalf of the Panmure Island Lighthouse Association Limited. It is open for tours during the summer. Over the years, there has been an earlier dwelling, a number of sheds, a barn and a fog alarm building located on the property. The fog alarm building was removed when the light became automated. It is now located not far from the lighthouse on the neighbouring property.

The Panmure Island Lighthouse has seen a number of keepers over the years, with several from the same family. When Andrew MacDonald moved there from Scotland in 1805 he bought all 800 acres of Panmure Island. He built the first brick house and stable on Prince Edward Island. In 1853 his son, Archibald, sold one acre and access to the lighthouse for 20 pounds. Archibald’s son, William Archie, tended the light from 1887 until 1908. In 1908 Mathias Condon was appointed fog alarm engineer. In 1910 Wallace E. Graham was chosen for the position of lightkeeper. He took over from Colin Steele who had resigned. It is unsure when William Archie’s son, William Albert, took over as keeper, but it is known that he retired as keeper in 1936. Charles A. Steele then took over as keeper until he died three years later. Augustine Jamieson was made temporary fog alarm engineer, a position taken over by his son, Louis, when Augustine died in 1940. George Creed was also lighthouse keeper. In 1960 William J. MacDonald, the last light keeper, began tending the light. He was off the job for two years when the lighthouse was downsized to one keeper. MacDonald came back and was keeper of the light until 1985, when the light became automated.