FHBRO # 90-110

LOL # 1020

BUILT 1881

POSITION 46 22 47N 63 49 01.1 W At the outer end of the breakwater at McCallum’s Point, overlooking Salutation Cove and Bedeque Bay at the outer entrance to Summerside Harbour

LIGHT White: flash, 10 seconds; eclipse, 10 seconds

FOCAL HEIGHT 14 m (46 ft)

TOWER HEIGHT 12.9 m (46 ft)

NOMINAL RANGE 17.7 km (11 miles)

The Indian Head Lighthouse is also known as the Summerside Lighthouse. The lighthouse has a very distinctive shape, not unusual in 1881, but now rare. This type of lighthouse was built on rocks or other places where there was little room for a separate keeper’s dwelling. It is an octagonal structure with a keeper’s dwelling at the base and a tower and lantern above that rises from the centre of the dwelling’s roof. The overall height is 12.9 m (42 feet) from base to vane, while the tower is 9.29 m (30.4 feet) in height. Each side of the octagonal tower is 1.5 m (5 feet) wide with an inside diameter of 3 m (10 feet). The dwelling below the tower has 3.6 m (12 foot) sides and an inside diameter of 8.1 m (26.5 feet).

There is a wooden railing along both the gallery and upper foundation level designed with basic upright posts and cross-members in between. The railings at the dwelling and lantern room levels added to the safety of the keepers as they polished the glass outside as well as inside the lantern room to increase the light’s visibility. Ice and salt spray dimmed the light’s intensity.

When the lighthouse was built, the site consisted only of a circular pier. The exact date of the building of the breakwater is unknown, but the Department of Marine’s Annual Report for 1893 states that the “north end of breakwater was close piled and lumber put in” and that “iron clamps were put on the corners to bind it securely”. According to the FHBRO Report the foundation was originally of iron caisson foundation construction, but was rebuilt of poured concrete in 1907. The main functional aspects of the Indian Head Lighthouse design relate to its need for strength in the face of harsh environmental conditions as it is exposed to strong wave action and ice break-up in spring.

The lighthouse was built to protect shipping into Summerside Harbour. Most of the other lights on the Island had also been built close to harbours – of the 38 lights on the Island at that time, only 8 were along the coast, serving the general purposes of navigation.

The lighthouse dwelling had a small kitchen, a living room area, and small storage area on the first floor. A fourth room, possibly a bedroom, was up a flight of stairs in the tower. In spite of the fact that the lighthouse had a dwelling, no lightkeeper ever lived there full time. In the evening the keeper would row out to the lighthouse, returning to shore in the morning. Partitions on the ground floor were removed following automation.

The original 4th order dioptric lens is still in place. It houses the modern mercury vapour light.

The designer of the lighthouse is unknown, but it is believed to be the Department of Marine. Thomas Beattie was the superintendent of construction. He built many local government buildings and fine homes.

Captain Charles Peters was the first keeper at this lighthouse. He was born in Prussia and changed his name from the Germanic Pieters. He came to Summerside in 1855 and was a sea captain who sailed on many of J.C. Pope’s ships. His lighthouse days were cut short when he died within a year of the building of the lighthouse. J.C. Pope was the federal cabinet minister in charge of Fisheries and Marine, and as such would have had a hand in the building of this lighthouse and the selection of a keeper.