On Thursday when we woke up and looked outside it looked pretty gray and the weather was for scattered showers late morning/early afternoon. Amanda’s was the recommendation for breakfast which was a good choice. There were 6 cops, 3 trucks of cable tv guys and other worker types there plus a bunch of locals so you knew it wouldn’t be bad. Maybe if you dial 911 in Cobourg it rings directly into Amanda’s?
We hit the road at 9am once more heading east this time taking Hwy 2 as it was right near the restaurant and our next town, Brighton, was not too far away. Entering the town we followed, in a round about way, the signs leading to the Presqu’ile Provincial Park. This is a peninsula sort of like the Presque Isle in Pa except it’s pronounced “eel” instead of “aisle” and they charge you $9 to get in. We got a map from the attendant and took the right fork in the circular roadway heading east to the point and the lighthouse.
The Interpretive Center opens at 10a and we were a few minutes early so I took photos first. Here’s one from the rocky beach:
The Presqu’ile Point Lighthouse was constructed in 1840. It is the 2nd oldest Canadian
lighthouse still in operation on the Great Lakes. It’s a 69’ tower that was built of
limestone. Because the builder used local limestone and sand instead of the Kingston
limestone specified by the architect there were problems and the tower had to be enclosed by a wooden framework and shingled with wood so this is the way we see it today.
The lantern room was removed in 1965 because high winds kept breaking the glass and damaging the 4th order lens. There were various white lights exhibited but the current red beacon is only a 500 watt light visible for eight miles.
The door has a gothic design.
There are lots of signs which show and tell the story of the light station. The modern
Interpretive Center is attached to the small stone keeper’s house which was built in 1846.
In 1906 a 56’ x 21’ fog signal building was added and a separate keeper was hired to maintain it. Although removed you can see the remnants of it’s foundation.
Just as I finished taking the photos it began to rain so I took refuge in the Interpretive
Center which had now opened. This contains a small museum and a gift shop. For $1 I was able to pick up a 32 page booklet on the history of the lighthouse, quite a bargain. I spoke with the three folks manning the place. There is a telescope set up inside which points to the distant Scotch Bonnet Lighthouse on an island some miles away. On a better day you can see it but not today. The younger woman of two told me that it was down to it’s last window so it doesn’t sound as though that lighthouse will be around too much longer. I asked the gentleman where the lantern room and lens to their lighthouse had gone. He stated that he didn’t really know, just that when removed they were taken to Prescott where the Coast Guard Depot was. This same man gave us instructions for a
short cut over to Quinte’s Isle where we were headed next to see the lights of Prince Edward Country.
We had intended driving back off the peninsula on the bay portion of the road but missed the entrance and wound up leaving the same way we had come in. A short ways down the road not taken was the location of a former set of range lights, the first ones being built in 1850 and a replacement set of lights being erected in the 1880’s. One marker currently has replaced these lights which were tended by a keeper other than the one at the main lighthouse.
