When you grow up in a province with 13,300 km of stunning seacoast (as I did), it’s easy to take the ocean and its associated characteristics for granted. Take the lighthouse, for example. There are about 175 lighthouses in the province of Nova Scotia. The Lighthouse Route, along the province’s South Shore, has been touted as a scenic drive as long as I can remember. Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse, an iconic Canadian image, is a must-see attraction for visitors.
But, I can’t honestly say I’ve given much thought to lighthouses and the important role they play. That is… until recently. During a visit to Nova Scotia’s neighboring province of Prince Edward Island (PEI or simply “the Island”), my husband and I set out on a short lighthouse tour. PEI, we discovered, boasts the highest concentration of lighthouses in North America. There are 63 lighthouses and range lights, averaging one for every 34 square miles, along the deeply-indented coastline of Canada’s smallest province. I walked away with a whole new appreciation for these historical structures. One of the lighthouses we visited is the Panmure Head Lighthouse on Panmure Island.
It’s common knowledge lighthouses emit beams of light to warn mariners of hazards and aid them in navigating safely. Lighthouses are typically built as towers to hold the guiding lights as high as possible. In the below photo of the Felgueiras Lighthouse in Porto Portugal, the rocky shores, thick fog and crashing waves bring the purpose of the lighthouse to life.
What may not be as well-known is that every lighthouse is identified by its own unique markings and flash patterns. As explained by the Britannica website: “Most lighthouses rhythmically flash or eclipse their lights to provide an identification signal. The particular pattern of flashes or eclipses is known as the character of the light, and the interval at which it repeats itself is called the period. The number of different characters that can be used is restricted by international agreement through the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities.” This critical information is distributed to mariners by the relevant national authorities. In Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard publishes Notices to Mariners (NOTMAR). Here is the relevant section about the lighthouse on Panmure Island.
The 3 data points under Light Characteristics are Rhythm, Colour and Period. The Light Characteristics of the Panmure Head Lighthouse are:
. Rhythm is “Fl” for flashing which is defined as “a light in which the flash is clearly shorter than the duration of darkness (eclipse) and in which the flashes of light are all of equal duration”.
. Colour is “W” for white.
. Period is “4s” for 4 seconds. The period is defined as “the time taken to complete one rhythm cycle”.
More simply, as stated in the Panmure Island Lighthouse visitor brochure, “Panmure Island has a white flash, with a flash of 4 seconds followed by an eclipse of 4 seconds.”
The NOTMAR also includes a brief description for each entry. The below photo illustrates the “White octagonal tower with red top” of the Panmure Head Lighthouse.
During tourist season, it’s possible to enter the Panmure Island lighthouse and climb up the stairs to the top. There’s a lovely view of the Northumberland Strait waters, beach and causeway from there…
…as well as a closeup look at the light in the Lantern Room. This light, from 2010, works with a photo sensor to activate the light at night or during conditions of fog or low light. The flashing light can be seen for 9 nautical miles.
Interestingly, the previous light, a 4th Order Fresnel beehive lens was visible for an even greater range at 19 nautical miles. It is on display on the second floor of the lighthouse.
The Fresnel lens is noteworthy for its history. Nearly 200 hundred years ago, in 1822, a French physicist named Augustin-Jean Fresnel revolutionized lighthouse illumination with the invention of this lens. He innovatively encircled the light source with glass prisms preventing the light from scattering. The prisms collect and redirect the light producing a significantly stronger beam of light.
The Panmure Island Lighthouse, built in 1853, has a heavy timber frame built with construction techniques typical of shipbuilding. It is considered a “first-generation” or colonial lighthouse. But it is not the oldest lighthouse on the Island—that honor goes to the Point Prim Lighthouse.
The Point Prim Lighthouse has been in service since 1845. It is one of a few round, brick lighthouses in Canada. Note the brick has since been covered with wooden shingles which are visible in the below photos.
It stands 18.6 meters above the ground—surprisingly the exact same height as the Panmure Island lighthouse. The Point Prim flash pattern is “Flash 0.2s; eclipse 4.8s. Operates at night only.”
Arguably, the most photographed lighthouse on the Island is the one at Brighton Beach. Located in Charlottetown, at the west end of the ever-popular Victoria Park Boardwalk, it is perfectly positioned for dramatic sunset scenes. To be accurate about it, the Brighton Beach structure is actually a Front Range Light not a lighthouse.
The distinction between lighthouses and range lights was new to me. Range lights are a pair of light beacons positioned near one another. The two light structures are carefully constructed so one range light is in front of and below the other. At night, mariners visually align the front and rear range lights to provide a bearing and navigate safely. During the day when the lights are not clearly visible, the range lights may be equipped with large painted flags, called daymarks or dayboards, to be aligned in the same fashion as the nighttime lights.
A fun fact I learned from the Lighthouse Friends website (see More Info below) is the “Brighton Beach Range Lights did not escape the notice of Lucy Maude Montgomery, Prince Edward Island’s most famous author, when she vacationed at the Brighton Shore in 1923. Montgomery wrote the following to her pen pal George McMillan in a letter dated September 3, 1924. “My first week was spent with an old college chum in her summer bungalow on the south side, built just where the North River empties into Hillsborough Bay. It was situated between two range lights that burned enchantingly through the twilights, pearl white against the ethereal skies. Down the harbor there were more rangelights and far out, seemingly in mid-harbor, shone the far away lighthouse on Point Prim — a beacon in ‘fairylands forlorn’.”
We visited another Range Light on the Island; the Leards Front Range Light is located in the charming village of Victoria-by-the-Sea.
In addition to visual aids, some lighthouses also provide aural aids to mariners. Examples of sound producing aids include bell buoys, whistle buoys and fog horns. The East Point Lighthouse, shown below, provides some insight into the historical use of fog horns. The building shown to the right of the lighthouse was originally a Fog Alarm Building. It is one of the few intact fog alarm buildings on PEI and currently serves as a gift shop and café.
In the same way that lighthouses have distinct flashing pattern, fog alarms have a distinct pattern of blasts. The East Point Fog Alarm characteristic consisted of a 6-second blast every 54 seconds. The below fog horns were removed from the original 1908 fog alarm building.
Not surprisingly, fog horns like these are no longer used. Advances in technology, especially the wide-spread adoption of GPS and depth-finding equipment on board marine vessels, have diminished the role of the lighthouse. But for many, lighthouses will always represent strength, guidance, hope and safe harbor.
I’ll wrap up with one final shot—this splendid sunset scene of the St Andrews (North Point) lighthouse from St Andrews, New Brunswick.
More Info
Learn more about Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia in my previous post, First Light at Peggy’s Cove.
The Prince Edward Island Lighthouse Society (PEILS) is a non-profit group formed to aid in the preservation of PEI lighthouses. Check out the PEILS website for a directory of lighthouses on the Island including an interactive map, photos, descriptions and histories.
The International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA), previously known as International Association of Lighthouse Authorities, is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1957 to collect and provide nautical expertise and advice. You can learn more on the IALA website.
The Canadian Coast Guard Notices to Mariners – NOTMAR can be found here. Select the “Atlantic Coast” tab to find the list for PEI. The United States Coast Guard publishes similar information—the US Atlantic Coast Light List can be accessed from here.
The Lighthouse Friends website is packed with information about the lighthouses of the USA and Canada. The author, Kraig Anderson, reports he has visited all the lighthouses in the US and nearly all in Canada.
Today’s Takeaways
1. Lighthouses have a fascinating story to tell.
2. Find comfort in the good vibes associated with lighthouses: strength, guidance, hope and safe harbor.
3. Consider visiting a nearby lighthouse to enjoy some socially-distanced, time outdoors.
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