FHBRO # 87-43

LOL # 1029

BUILT 1875

POSITION 46 37 13.1 N 64 22 12.3 W on a sandy beach not far from West Point Harbour

LIGHT White: flash, 6 seconds; eclipse, 6 seconds

FOCAL POINT 20.1 m (66 ft)

TOWER HEIGHT 20.8 m (67 ft 8 in)

NOMINAL RANGE 19.3 km (12 miles)

West Point Lighthouse is called the first of the 2nd generation of lighthouses on PEI. It was the first one built by the new Department of Marine (also called Department of Marine and Fisheries). The pre-Confederation or Colonial lighthouses on the Island were either round or octagonal. West Point was the first of the square towers and the highest. Eight Prince Edward Island lighthouses pre-date this one: Point Prim (1845); Panmure Head (1853); Seacow Head (1863); St. Peter’s (1865); North Cape (1866); East Point (1867); and Murray Harbour Front and Back Ranges (1869).

It was built by the firm of Messers. Mugridge and Co. from Shediac, New Brunswick, for the sum of $4,559.59. It consisted of a square tapered tower of frame construction, set on stone foundations, with windows placed centrally on each façade and shingled on the exterior. It had a 1 ½ storey gable roofed house with lean-to storage shed. The tower itself is 17.5 m (57 feet 6 inches) tapering from 8.8 m (29 feet) square at the base to 3.6 m (12 feet) square at the platform. When combined with the height of the lantern, it is 20.6 m (67 feet 8 inches) from ground to vane.

The windows, which are banked vertically in each of the four storeys, have a slightly pedimented cap, which is also repeated over the doorway. Wooden brackets provide a pleasant transition from the tower to the lantern platform which is surrounded by a wooden railing.

The tower was originally painted white with broad red horizontal stripes. In 1915, these stripes were changed to black on the grounds that black was more resistant to fading.

There were only two keepers during the 88 years before the tower was electrified. William Anderson MacDonald was keeper from 1875 to 1925. Bennie MacIsaac began in 1925 and continued until his retirement in 1963.

The dwelling was removed in 1963-64 and the outbuildings were also disposed of over the next few years. In 1983 a volunteer group, the West Point Development Corporation, leased the tower from the Canadian Coast Guard and on July 1, 1984, began operating it as “Canada’s only Inn in a Lighthouse”. On May 21, 2002, it became the first lighthouse on PEI to have ownership transferred from the Federal Government to a community group. It has grown to include nine guest rooms, a full service restaurant and seaside patio, and a museum of Island Lighthouses.