Name: Point Clark Lighthouse (built 1855-1859)
Location: Point Clark, Ontario
The Government of Canada has invested $3.7M in the rehabilitation of Point Clark Lighthouse.
Completed in 1859, the Point Clark Lighthouse was designated as a National Historic Site in 1966 as a representative example of six Imperial Lighthouses on the Eastern shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. It commemorates the vital role of lighthouses to navigation on the Great Lakes. The heritage value of Point Clark Lighthouse lies in the quality and completeness of its physical form, its distinctive lantern, its strategic location and its continuous operation since 1859.
The lighthouse is a 27 metre-tall slightly tapered, round tower, clad in rusticated whitewashed limestone. It is crowned with a 12-sided cast-iron lantern with a domed roof. Known as an Imperial tower, it was built between 1855 and 1859 by contractor John Brown for the Department of Public Works. Marking the location of a dangerous shoal in Lake Huron, it provided greater navigational safety for the increased commercial and passenger traffic on the lake.
The technology of its lighting apparatus has changed over the years, and the revolving mechanism of its light was replaced by an electric motor in 1953. This site was occupied by a lighthouse keeper until the mid-1960s when the light was automated. It was acquired by Parks Canada in 1967, but continues to be used by the Canadian Coast Guard as a navigational aid.
Parks Canada protects and conserves the Point Clark Lighthouse National Historic Site and the Municipality of Huron-Kinloss presents the site as a popular tourist attraction.
The Point Clark Lighthouse has been designated as a heritage lighthouse under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act. The Act allows for the identification and protection of federally-owned lighthouses with heritage value and is the most significant piece of federal legislation to protect historic places in the last decade. It will help to ensure that important heritage lighthouses on Canada’s coastal and inland waters remain protected for future generations.
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