Thanks to Jeremy D'Entremont for forwarding emails with this information.
The 1922 Abbott's Harbour lighthouse in West Pubnico, on Nova Scotia's southwest coast, has been moved to a museum. On June 24, 2004, many residents were somewhat startled to see the lighthouse, cut into three pieces, proceeding up the road on the back of a flatbed truck. The tower is being reassembled at the Acadian Historic Village (Le Village Historique Acadien).
The 9-meter (30-foot) "pepperpot" wooden lighthouse has been inactive for about ten years. The community of West Pubnico had created a small park at the lighthouse, with picnic tables, and the site was popular with tourists passing through the area. However, it appears that the property on which the lighthouse stood was privately owned. Reports (unconfirmed as yet) are that the owner wants to close the area to the public, so he sold the lighthouse to the Historic Village (a unit of the Nova Scotia Museum) for one dollar on the condition that the building be moved.
We hope to have more details on this relocation later.
Following is a press release from the Atlantic Lighthouse Council dated May 20, 2004. Thanks to Jeremy D'Entremont for contributing this news.
SHELBURNE, N.S. -- Lighthouse enthusiasts in Nova Scotia will celebrate a milestone this weekend. A ceremony near Shelburne at 6 p.m. Friday will formally transfer the Sandy Point lighthouse to the Sandy Point Recreation Group and Atlantic Lighthouse Council, from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Canadian Coast Guard).
"The current lighthouse and an earlier one destroyed by fire in 1878 have been guiding seafarers to and from Shelburne for over 130 years," said Rick Welsford, managing director of the Atlantic Lighthouse Council (ALC). "It is recognized as a heritage site due to its historic links with the fishing and shipbuilding port of Shelburne, and because of its architecture."
In an age of computers, digital and satellite technology, most lighthouses are becoming obsolete as essential aids to navigation. However, they remain prominent coastal landmarks with historical, architectural, environmental and tourism-related significance. The Coast Guard has been working with community groups to develop a process by which they can acquire, at nominal cost, sites that are no longer operationally essential, provided they agree to maintain public access and preserve the buildings' heritage value.
"The process leading to this transfer has taken several years to develop and now will hopefully serve as template for other projects and anchor for the council’s program to protect heritage lighthouses across Canada," Welsford added.
The Sandy Point Recreation Group is a partnership of community members, the Municipality of the District of Shelburne, the Province of Nova Scotia, the Canadian Coast Guard, and others including the South Shore Tourism Association and the ALC. Ownership will formally be transferred to the ALC's newly developed National Lighthouse Trust. West Nova MP Robert Thibault, on behalf of the Hon. Geoff Regan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, will participate in the ceremony at the nearby Sandy Point Lighthouse Community Centre.
The Sandy Point lighthouse was constructed in 1880 on a sandbar on the south side of Shelburne Harbour, replacing an earlier tower (c. 1873) that was destroyed by fire in 1878. In 1903, the present light tower was relocated to a new concrete base next to the original site. Its tapered proportions and neoclassical details are typical of post-Confederation light towers constructed by the predecessor of both DFO and the Canadian Coast Guard -- the former Department of Marine and Fisheries. The lighthouse is surrounded by water at high tide but is accessible by foot from shore at low tide. The lighthouse, which retains many of its original features, was decommissioned by the Canadian Coast Guard in 1996.
May 27, 2004. Site copyright 2004 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.