Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project

Filmed between Autumn 2015 & Winter 2016 during trips to Cumberland County, experience the landscape and lighthouses at Apple River, Port Greville and Spencer's Island.   

 

The present Apple River Lighthouse dates from 1968,  Two new keeper's dwellings were also provided for the keepers, and the old lighthouse and a dwelling were pushed over the bank and burned. However, after the fog signal was discontinued, the one-story building was torn down, leaving just the 10.5-meter tower, which has had its lantern room removed.

 

Port Greville Lighthouse was built in 1907. Known for shipbuilding, inflation in 1972 brought an end to this industry in Port Greville. Hopes were for shipbuilding to return after inflation, but the Groundhog Day gale of 1976 destroyed the shipyard. With shipbuilding gone, the Coast Guard deactivated the light, sawed it in half, trucked it to Sydney and displayed it at their college. But in 1998, the Coast Guard agreed to turn back the lighthouse for display at the Age of Sail Heritage Centre & Museum; it was thus cut in half again & trucked back to its home town of Port Greville.

 

Built in 1904, Spencer's Island Lighthouse was discontinued in 1987. However, a two-year effort resulted in the Spencer's Island Community Association acquiring the lighthouse from the government. In 2006, after major restorative work (thanks to local fundraising efforts), the light was reactivated in the tower.