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They’re signs of home. I guess everybody on the southwest coast feels that these lights are their lights. They bring out a lot of pride in people. It seems like they’ve been there forever. They’re just part of your community life. It’s been amazing to see over the last several years the great interest that people from all over have shown in those lights. People want to know a bit about our past and our heritage here. - Rita Anderson, Executive Director of the Southwest Coast Development Association.
The beginning of August 2002 witnessed a new lease on life for four Newfoundland lighthouses.
From August 2nd to the 11th, the Southwest Coast Lighthouse Festival celebrated the historic lights at Rose Blanche, Channel Head, Cape Ray, and Cape Anguille.
The highlight of the festival was the re-lighting of the Rose Blanche lighthouse, a beautiful granite lighthouse/keeper’s house recently restored by the Southwest Coast Development Association (SWCDA).
The tower was built between 1871 and 1873, and served until the 1940s, when it was de-commissioned and replaced by a beacon nearby. For more than 50 years the tower lay at the mercy of wind, rain and lightning strikes.
In 1988, Rita Anderson of the SWCDA, decided the tower should be rebuilt, but it wasn’t until 1996 that restoration work began in earnest. It involved the laborious task of salvaging granite blocks from the ruins and quarrying new local stone for the re-construction. After three years and $1.5 million (Canadian), local workers finished the job. In July 1999, the lighthouse was opened to the public.
But the real icing on the cake came on the night of August 3rd this year, when Rita Anderson flipped the switch to illuminate Rose Blanche’s flashing red light. Although the day before had been clear, Newfoundland’s infamous fog and rain rolled in for the re-lighting. But about 150 people braved the damp to join the ceremony, and as the beams of the light cut through the darkness, everyone clapped and cheered.
For Rita Anderson, the event was the culmination of 14 years of sweat and tears.
“It has been not only my job, but a work of love to restore that lighthouse.” she says. “It is unique and will always be so.
It’s active, it’s there now, it’s whole. You can look out now and see a light where there wasn’t one for over 50 years. People from Rose Blanche see it standing now instead of just in ruins. So it’s like new life has been brought back into her.”
Other events in the Southwest Coast Lighthouse festival included the ceremonial handover of the Cape Ray and Cape Anguille lightstations, from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Canadian Coast Guard division), to the SWCDA.
Both lights had been de-staffed in the early 1990s, and were in danger of losing their keepers houses. Thanks to the dedication of Rita Anderson and the SWCDA, the lightkeepers house at Cape Ray has been turned into a museum/interpretive centre. There is also a gift shop on site. On August 2nd, a local band played traditional music, while visitors watched the handing of the lighthouse keys to the SWCDA.
A 30 minute drive north, near the Codroy Valley, the Cape Anguille lighthouse sits on a grassy plain at the base of the Anguille Mountains. On August 4th, more than 300 people gathered around the old keepers houses to enjoy a barbeque, horse and carriage rides and children’s games.
The blasts of the fog horn echoed through the station’s three abandoned homes, which will eventually be restored and developed as a Bed and Breakfast, restaurant and craft shop.
In an interesting twist, both Cape Anguille and Cape Ray have been re-staffed with lightkeepers who formerly worked at isolated island stations around the province. Their role has now changed from maintenance of the lights, horns and buildings, to helping promote the history and culture of Newfoundland lights.
The Coast Guard has built new offices at the lightstations, where keepers stand an eight hour watch, seven days a week. The re-staffing is part of the Canadian Coast Guard’s “Lightkeeper Transfer Program” (LTP), which will see 11 previously automated stations re-staffed.
Under the LTP, the province’s remaining “family” stations will become “office” sites. The remainder of the province’s 24 staffed lights are at isolated mainland or island sites with hydro power.
At Cape Anguille, Ches Hulan and Leonard Patry work alternating weeks at the station. For Leonard, it’s a homecoming of sorts. He’s a third generation lightkeeper, and he was born at Cape Anguille.
So, even though the role of the lighthouse, and the lighthouse keeper, has changed, the future of Newfoundland’s south west coast beacons seems very bright indeed.
If you ask Rita Anderson to name her favorite lighthouse in Newfoundland, she doesn’t hesitate, even for a moment. It’s Rose Blanche. The small, fortress-like stone tower with its attached dwelling sits on a granite-bound point guarding the entrance to Rose Blanche Bay, on Newfoundland’s south coast.
To the first time visitor, it’s difficult to believe the tower was ever anything but solid as the ground it was built on. But until recently, the old tower was in danger of falling into ruin.
The little light has also been Rita Anderson’s passion for the last 14 years. Rita is the driving force behind the South West Coast Development Association (SWCDA), a group committed to promoting the history and economy of south west Newfoundland.
In 1988 the group turned its attention to the Rose Blanche Lighthouse. By then was in ruins. Built between 1871 and 1873 and abandoned in the 1940s, the stone lighthouse and keepers residence had fallen victim wind, rain and lightning strikes.
This story appeared in the
October 2002 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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