14

Family and friends would gather around the 1876 organ each evening while Mariah or one of her daughters played "Let the Lower Lights be Burning", in memory of lives lost at sea because of a negligent Keeper.

The Lighthouse was never a lonely place to be. Along with William's large family, many friends and neighbours visited frequently.

The Lighthouse was a family home full of hospitality, music and food. A favourite occupation was storytelling such exciting tales as the Phantom Ship and the Sea Serpent. Many of these stories are still told today in the Lighthouse parlour.

Treasure-seekers would stay at the Lighthouse until it got dark; then the boys, Stan and/or Jack, would take them to the money pit. (Rumour has it that a Pirate's Treasure is indeed buried in West Point.)

The boys would dig all night and mother would give them a fine big breakfast in the morning.

15

William MacDonald and neighbours.
1900
West Point, Prince Edward Island

16

Supply Ship.
1950
West Point, Prince Edward Island

17

William Anderson MacDonald (1846 to 1934).
1925
West Point, Prince Edward Island

18

Advertisement for West Point Lightkeeper.
1925
West Point, Prince Edward Island

19

The Lightkeeper and his Light. (Bennie MacIsaac).
1950
West Point, Prince Edward Island

20

Bennie Mac Isaac, second and last Keeper of the West Point Light

21

Heading for the Light.
1961
West Point, Prince Edward Island

22

Pearl and Bennie Mac Isaac
1950
West Point, Prince Edward Island

23

The Bennie Mac Isaac Family.
1960
West Point, Prince Edward Island

24

Ekectricity came to rural P.E.I. in the late 1950s, early 1960s. It changed the way of life possibly more than any other single event in the history of the Island.

Of course it had been in the city and towns for a long time, and its arrival in the rural areas served in many ways to catch them up to the rest of the county.

But...with progress comes sacrifice, and West Point Lighthouse was not unaffected.

25

West Point Lighthouse, early 1960's.
1960
West Point, Prince Edward Island

26

Poem of the West Point Lighthouse, by Roy J. Stewart, born on PEI

As a child I loved to watch it
From my window in the night;
As it flashed its lustrous beacon
Alternating red and white.
And I wondered if my father
As he sailed the the ocean blue
And caught sight of West Point Lighthouse
Knew that I was watching too.

Often when the storm clouds gather
And the seas were lashed with foam
By the violent blasts of autumn
Which oft rocked our humble home,
Causing every bolt and rafter
To complain with dismal shriek.
Like the sullen protest offered,
When the strong oppose the weak.

And I heard my mother murmer
As the shades of night go down;
"God bless those at sea, and grant
that none in this fierce storm may drown."
She would wander to the window
And look out towards the shore,
Where the waves were dashing madly
As they oft had done before.

Well I knew that she was thinking
Of my father far from land;
Wondering whether his frail vessel
Would the angry waves withstand.
And she always seemed contented
When the rays of red and white
From the tower of the Lighthouse
Flashed a message in the night.

For it spoke to her of guidance
For the sailors in that gale,
Trying hard to make the harbour
In their ships so small and frail.
May my life be like that Lighthouse
Standing firm through storm and blast
Warning, guiding weary voyagers
Till the haven's reached at last.