>> Click to enlarge << Gannet Rock Lighthouse as it appeared in 2015. ... Photo by: Michael Leonard

It now appears that a last-ditch effort by the Gannet Rock Preservation Society to save the lighthouse has failed. According to a report given to Canada’s Grand Manan Village Council, by Jordy Leighton, as reported by Arlene Benham in The Quoddy Tides newspaper of Eastport, Maine, “The group initially estimated a cost of $10 million, which he said was 66% secured and had hired two engineers to do a feasibility study. Leighton heard from the group that the engineers recently visited the site and estimated a $17 million cost. However, they were only allowed to do a non-invasive survey, not touching anything – like checking under shingles, for example – and they suggested a more thorough survey might find that restoration could cost twice that much.

>> Click to enlarge << This close-up image of Gannet Rock Lighthouse, ...

“Leighton, who had supported the project, reported that the group has decided not to proceed, and the project is dead in the water. Ten years ago, the light might have been saved, he said, but now it is so far gone that preservation isn’t possible.”

Lighthouse Digest reported about the plight of the 1831 Gannet Rock Lighthouse over ten years ago, in our March/April 2011 edition, with numerous close-up photos, accompanying a story titled, “Gannet Rock Lighthouse Condemned,” which was based on a Canadian Coast Guard report that had been issued the previous year.

In 2014, the Gannet Rock Lighthouse was named by The National Trust of Canada as one of the top ten endangered places in Canada.

In 1991, Parks Canada designated the Gannet Rock Lighthouse tower and keeper’s house as Recognized Heritage Federal Buildings. They stated that “it is one of the best examples of a structure associated with the provision of navigational aids for international and commercial traffic.”

However, historical designations and words have not, and apparently, will not, save the Gannet Rock Lighthouse.

This story appeared in the Jul/Aug 2022 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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