The Lightkeeper Page 2 The Lightkeeper Vol. 25, No. 2 Summer/Fall 2018 The objectives of the Welcome New Members Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society are Sarah Almon, Dartmouth NS; Maz Crotty, Shelter Island to promote and to Hgts NY; Tamar Ellis, Halifax NS; Donald Fay, Myrtle Beach South Carolina; Sarah Ford, Upper Peterborough ON; support the preservation Graham Frosst, Ross River NS; Lawrence Nicoll, Parrsboro and awareness of Nova NS; Lawrence Peyton, Waverly NS; Cory Webb, Mt Scotia lighthouses; to Uniacke NS assist community groups Patrons in leasing or taking ownership of the lighthouse sites; to provide access to written research and Doris Arnold, Owen Sound ON; Bruce Blakemore, Cape Negro NS; Cape Sable Historical Society, Barrington NS; photographic documentation; to initiate oral history Sydney Dumaresq, Chester NS; Roderick MacLennan, research; and to classify and monitor the status of Truro NS; Leslie McLean, Toronto Ontario; Rudy Morassutti, historic lighthouse sites. Aurora ON; Steve Moulton, Vancouver BC; Edith Northfield, Plainfield IL; Kathy Oakley, Prospect NS; Janet Leigh NSLPS Executive 2018 / 2019 Schaffner, Halifax NS; Ronald D. Stewart, Halifax NS Sustaining Members President: Kathy & Murray Brown, Halifax NS; Denyse Contrasty, Joe Flemming Eastern Passage NS; Joan Davis, Rothesay NB; Paul L. Ehler, Guysborough Co. NS; Sarah Ford, Upper Past President: Peterborough ON; Hampton Lighthouse and Historical Joanne McCormick Society, Hampton NS; Barbara George Himmelman, Halifax NS; Gordon Howes, Wolfville, NS; Barry & Anne MacDonald, Seaforth NS; Anne & Eric Mills, Rose Bay NS; Vice President/Lightkeeper: Sherry Mochinski, Bulyea Saskatchewan; Joan Pattison, Meredith O'Hara Ottawa ON; Dave Rutherford, Belleville ON; Jeffrey Smith, Saskatoon SK; Stanley Van Dyke, Halifax NS; Joanne McCormick, Halifax NS. Treasurer: Matthew Burke From The Editor We hope you were able to make Membership: it out to some of our beautiful Denyse Contrasty lighthouses this summer. There were so many exciting Secretary: oppurtunities, from Sambro Sarah Almon Days to the Cape Sable Island tours, to the Medway Head Members-at-Large: lighthouse which welcomed Marieke deRoos visits all summer long and Howard Eaton Walton Lighthouse which is off the beaten track but well Cory Webb worth the trip, communities throughout Nova Scotia were Maggie Jane Spray enjoying the beautiful summer we had and the lighthouses Larry Peyton that dot our shores. As a board member of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society I recently was able to attend a national conference on heritage preservation. One of the key issues discussed was the idea that it isn't the The Lightkeeper is published by the NOVA buildings alone people will rally around to save but the SCOTIA LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION stories that the buildings help us remember. As The SOCIETY, c/o Maritime Museum ofthe Lightkeepers' Editor I hope some of those stories come to Atlantic,1675 Lower Water Street, life in these pages and inspire our readers to get involved Halifax, B3J 1S3 and protect our lighthouses and the stories they hold. Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society, est 1 993 facebook.com/nslps1 993/ www.nslps.com twitter.com/nslps/ Vol. 25, No. 2 Summer/Fall 2018 The Lightkeeper Page 3 Lost Nova Scotia light found in New Brunswick By: Kathy Johnson Originally published in the Tri-county Vanguard It’s going to be him about the pretty hard for crates. anyone to top this “He sent me 100th anniversary some pictures, so present to the I sent them offto Town of Clark’s a couple of Harbour. lighthouse Along lost light experts … they from the Cape responded with Sable Lighthouse we can’t believe that was found in this has been an old government found. It’s been building on the eluding us for waterfront in Saint decades. We John, N.B. is being often had an idea returned to Cape ofwhere it might Sable Island be, or heard where it will be rumors where it assembled and might be, but given a new home always ran into a in the Seaside dead end and Heritage Center in were never able Clark’s Harbour. Photos by Joe Flemming to locate it,” he The light is a 3rd order Fresnel lens that would have lit said. “When I the way home for mariners from 1902 through to the 1980s realized how excited they were about it, I realized I better on both the original Cape Sable Lighthouse that was built in get excited.” 1861 and its replacement built in the early 1920s and is still Flemming went to have a look, finding the 19 crates plus operational. other mechanical equipment that holds and supports the The light, its base and its mechanisms and other lens, still unpacked from their trek across the Bay of Fundy mechanical equipment were found in 19 crates in an old decades ago. government building on the waterfront in Saint John. On “It’s very rare to find all this together,” he said. “The city the crates were written Cape Sable Island main light. managers ofSaint John wanted it removed as soon as Joe Flemming, President of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse possible but they didn’t want it to go in the wrong hands Preservation Society, said he had never heard of the light and get sold. They wanted it to be some place where it being missing until a man by the name ofRalph Holyoke would be appreciated so that’s why they reached out to stumbled upon it while in the city ofSaint John while doing us." some volunteer work. He gave him a call one night and told “Once we knew what it was we decided let’s contact the Mayor ofClark’s Harbour and see ifhe would want it and he does,” said Flemming. The timing couldn’t have been better. With 2019 marking the 100th anniversary of the town, Flemming said, “It’s the perfect opportunity to repatriate it back to Nova Scotia and bring it back to where it belongs.” For Mayor Leigh Stoddart the gift ofthe light was a surprise. “I didn’t know it was even in existence actually,” he said, until he was contacted by Flemming. “When he asked ifwe were interested. I said certainly. It would be fitting for us where its our 100th anniversary. It would be great to have it back.” Mayor Stoddart said he is hoping the historic light is going to be the catalyst to get the Seaside Heritage Center open and operational again, especially for the 100th ...continues on pg. 6 Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society, est 1 993 facebook.com/nslps1 993/ www.nslps.com twitter.com/nslps/ Page 4 The Lightkeeper Vol. 25, No. 2 Summer/Fall 2018 A #BriefHiatus but #FarFromDead By Larry Peyton next several weeks, examined by several computer repair technicians. Each tech ultimately provided the same devastating message: the hard drive had a complete failure, resulting in the retrieval of absolutely no data. Not only were photos and videos of several recent lighthouse captures now lost, but so were important family pictures, including the graduation ceremonies of my eldest child. I was devastated. My creative spark was ultimately impacted so much that I put the camera and the drone away for a while. The crowdfunding support from people throughout the province, around the country Photo by Larry Peyton and even internationally, continued until the holiday season, at which point we decided to scale things Like life in general, the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Project back a bit until later in the new year. We had reached the has been full ofups and downs, mixed in with some speed halfway point ofour goal, and felt it only proper to get bumps, u-turns and empty fuel tanks. Though the ourselves out on the water, put the drone up in the air, and endeavour has been fraught with a variety of unanticipated start capturing lighthouses again. That is, until I received a impediments, our commitment is made to the ideology that phone call. the ‘show must go on’. The representative of a government agency on the other Let me provide you with an update. line of the phone advised they received notifications Once I managed to get through my nasty bout with regarding the #NSLighthouseProject. Apparently, some endocarditis and then, just a few months later, open heart person(s) had taken offence to the project, claiming it to be surgery, the project kicked into high gearas Cory and I a commercial venture rather than merely a hobby, and made our way around the province. With a reasonably hence issued a complaint(s). The verdict: since we had steady pace, we successfully captured lighthouse after accepted money via crowdfunding, the project transitioned lighthouse along the coastlines of the province. from pastime to business. Add in some appearances on the news, in traditional Though I argued otherwise – since not a photo was sold, print and online stories, as well as on radio and television, not a dollar was taken for video footage, not a scrap ofthe the project was in high gear. We were pleased with the project was beyond a true hobby, and that money raised progress, astonished by the attention and humbled by the was to help with getting us to locations, as opposed to fund support. the use ofthe drone – I was told that ifI had captured any With almost every lighthouse on the mainland captured, footage for the #NSLighthouseProject with a drone since focus was turned to the offshore lights. Since we have accepting crowdfunding, I would be in violation of the never accepted financial backing – personal savings have regulations and could be fined. funded the project – and we failed to obtain sufficient volunteer services to get us to every island beacon, we ..