Group seeks to preserve historic N.S. lighthouse as DFO builds steel tower replacement

The Seal Island lighthouse. (Source: Seal Island Lighthouse Preservation Society)

Roughly 32 kilometres off the southwest coast of Nova Scotia, a lighthouse has rested on Seal Island for close to 200 years, warning ships away from jagged rocks and attracting admirers of its rich history like Mary McLaren.

“I’m a seasonal resident of Seal Island,” said McLaren, board member with the Seal Island Lighthouse Preservation Society. “I’ve been going there with my parents since I was very small. I have that connection, but it’s also the historical aspect of it.

“That island is quite compelling and overlooked.”

The lighthouse, originally built in 1831, is one of the oldest wooden lighthouses in the country. It has weathered the powerful winds and waves of the Atlantic Ocean, along with the ravages of the steady march of time.

McLaren says the structure has seen better days and her preservation society is calling on Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Canadian Coast Guard to fix it before it falls into further disrepair.

“Part of the legislation of the Heritage Lighthouse Preservation Act says the owner is obligated to maintain (it) and they have not,” McLaren said. “They’ve maintained the navigational aid, but they don’t do anything else with it. When they automated the light, they had to put a window in and it wasn’t put in properly and it’s leaking. It’s allowing a little bit of rot to get in.

“The structure is incredibly sound. It is not at risk of crumbling.”

In an emailed statement, Kate Trask, communications advisor with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said the lighthouse requires “extensive structural repairs” and they have decided to build a steel tower next to it to serve as a navigational aid on the island.

“Many factors were considered in the decision to build a steel tower, including the health and safety of mariners as well as the Canadian Coast Guard employees who must service the aid and the cost of the steel tower and its maintenance versus the cost of maintaining the lighthouse,” Trask said.

“A decision has not been made regarding the disposal of the lighthouse structure once the new steel tower will be built.”

According to Parks Canada, the Seal Island lighthouse is a designated federal heritage building.

“The Lighthouse is one of the best examples of a structure associated with the development of lighthouses in Atlantic Canada during the colonial period,” a description on Parks Canada’s website reads. “The fourth oldest lighthouse in Canada, it was constructed as a response to the many shipwrecks which occurred in and past the Bay of Fundy during the primacy of the Maritimes as a world shipping power.

“It is of strong regional importance because of its close association with the Hichen and Crowell families who founded Canada’s first life-saving station at this site.”

More than 7,400 people have signed the preservation society’s petition to save the lighthouse. McLaren said there is a divestiture program that allows groups to take over historic lighthouses, but she noted her group would need the DFO to bring the building to a certain standard before they would take it on.

McLaren, who has often taken the two-hour boat ride to Seal Island, says the land and the lighthouse are significant in Nova Scotia history.

“Honestly in my heart I hoped this would grab people’s attention because I think it does matter,” she said. “Most of the comments we get are from people concerned about losing history. (The petition) is growing. It certainly helps to show this does matter.

“History is important and if you let it go, it’s gone.”

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