When we decided to full-time RV, one of the decisions we made was to move slowly. We see lots of full-time RVers who travel to a new location every week. We knew that wasn’t going to be possible for us because we had to still earn money as we go. The plan for us is to stay in a location for at least 3 months before moving on to the next location. Part of the reason behind this decision was that it would allow us to fully immerse ourselves into where we picked to stay. Rather than being tourists, we would be short-term residents which would allow us to see and enjoy more of a certain area other than the typical tourist locations. Over the Victoria Day long weekend, we fully utilized this plan by doing a lighthouse tour of PEI.
Although PEI is by far the smallest Canadian province, it has the highest concentration of lighthouses & range light buildings in all of North America. In total, there are 63 lighthouses & range light buildings in PEI. A few weeks back, we decided we wanted to visit as many lighthouses on PEI this summer as possible. Then, Kate had the wild idea to make it a challenge to see how many lighthouses we could visit in one single day.
The day before Victoria Day, Kate was working and I wanted to see if it would actually be possible to see all 63 lighthouses in one day. After planning with Google Maps, I quickly learned that it wouldn’t be possible to see all 63 lighthouses in one day because it would take approximately 20+ hours of driving to do that. Disappointing? Yes, but we compromised and decided to do almost 30. The plan was to go and see as many lighthouses as possible on the Western and central parts of the Island.
So how did we do? Overall, really well! We ended up seeing 27 lighthouses and range light buildings over the course of 12 hours. It was A LOT of driving but Bella was with us and we would take periodic walks to stretch our legs. The day couldn’t have been more beautiful for the drive either. It was a perfect day and we ended up not only seeing a bunch of lighthouses, but we discovered some new locations of PEI that we had never been to before.
One of the interesting twists to this challenge was that we did it with a good old fashion paper map. No GPS. Not because we didn’t want to, but our data plan exceeded its limit. Using a paper map was enjoyable though and made for a better experience. Because we didn’t have a GPS we somehow couldn’t find the Cape Tryon lighthouse. We also drove through Cape Egmont without visiting the lighthouse there because we thought it was in another town. When you’re out and about, ditch your GPS and just drive, you never know what you’ll end up finding.
A rough outline of how much driving we did to see all 27 lighthouses.
Coming up in the next month or so, we’re going to plan another day where we will do all of the remaining lighthouses on the Eastern part of PEI. There are some fantastic lighthouses on that side of the Island that we have visited before and look forward to seeing again.
The lighthouses of PEI are definitely one of the reasons you should come to visit the Island and when you do so, we recommend challenging yourself to see as many lighthouses as possible in one day. Below we’ve included pictures of all the lighthouses we visited along with the locations for when you want to visit any one of the lighthouses.
Indian Head Lighthouse
Location: Summerside/McCallum’s Point Built: 1881 Status: Active
Fun Fact: At low tide, you can actually walk out to the lighthouse from McCallum’s Point.
Summerside Outer Front Range Light
Location: Summerside Built: 1991 Status: Active
Fun Fact: Although many of the features of this range light mimic traditional lighthouses, because this is a newer range light, the buildings exterior features vinyl siding rather than cedar planks or other wood.
Summerside Outer Back Range Light
Location: Summerside Built: 1991 Status: Active
Fun Fact: Because of its young age, this range light has never had a keeper as it’s always been electrified.
Summerside Back Range Light
Location: Summerside Built: 1904 Status: Active
Fun Fact: The main purpose of this light was to provide guidance for the many steamships that would travel to Summerside from Nova Scotia.
West Point Lighthouse
Location: West Point Built: 1875 Status: Active
Fun Fact: The West Point Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse on PEI at 67’8 tall.
Howard’s Cove/Seal Point Lighthouse
Location: Cape Wolfe Built: 1978 Status: Active
Fun Fact: This is one of the smallest lighthouses on PEI standing at 19 feet tall.
North Cape Lighthouse
Location: North Cape Built: 1865 Status: Active
Fun Fact: Because of high amounts of erosion, the North Cape lighthouse has been moved multiple times. The last time it was moved was in 1951 when it was moved back 400 feet.
Tignish Run Lighthouse
Location: Tignish Built: 1880 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: This lighthouse was built by Henry Williams in 1880 at the cost of $545.
Northport Back Range Light
Location: Northport Built: 1885 Status: Active
Fun Fact: This range light was originally a front range light until 1962 when a new front range light was constructed.
Former Cascumpec Lighthouse
Location: Northport Built: 1876 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: In the winter of 1899-1900, the lighthouse had to be moved across the harbour ice using sixteen teams of horses. Due to the poor conditions, the lighthouse got stuck in a snowdrift on the sandy island where the lighthouse currently remains.
Former Fish Island Lighthouse
Location: Malpeque Built: 1853 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: Original lightkeeper, Benjamin Thomson, was paid an annual salary of £36.
Malpeque Harbour Approach Light
Location: Malpeque Built: 1961 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: This lighthouse was never staffed.
Malpeque Outer Back Range Light
Location: Darnley Built: 1897 Status: Active
Fun Fact: The range light was originally named the Darnley Point Front Range Light but was later changed to its current name by the Canadian Coast Guard.
Malpeque Outer Back Range Light
Location: Darnley Built: 1897 Status: Active
Fun Fact: The range light was moved 12 times between 1889 and 1938 in order to line up with a constantly shifting channel.
New London Lighthouse
Location: French River Built: 1876 Status: Active
Fun Fact: The lighthouse was almost destroyed by fire in 1894 but was saved from destruction by light keeper Captain George MacKenzie who bravely extinguished the blaze by himself.
North Rustico Harbour Lighthouse
Location: North Rustico Built: 1876 Status: Active
Fun Fact: In 1899, intense gales caused the foundation around the lighthouse to be compromised resulting in the lighthouse capsizing.
Wright’s Front Range Light
Location: Victoria Built: 1903 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: Charles L. Wright was the first light keeper and remained in that position until 1935 when his son, Charles E. Wright, took over and stayed on duty until 1959.
Leard’s Front Range Light
Location: Victoria Built: 1879 Status: Active
Fun Fact: Although the lighthouse remains active, it also is home to the Victoria Seaport Museum which features artifacts and pictures from past days of shipping in the area.
Leard’s Back Range Light
Location: Victoria Built: 1878 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: The interior of the lighthouse features a narrow set of stairs that also has multiple platforms so the lightkeeper would have somewhere to rest while carrying lantern oil to the top.
Wright’s Back Range Light
Location: Victoria Built: 1894 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: Lightkeeper, Charles L. Wright, was awarded the Imperial Long Service Medal for his 40+ year tenure as lightkeeper.
Port Borden Back Range Light
Location: Borden-Carleton Built: 1917 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: The range light was decommissioned in 1997 once the Confederation Bridge was opened to traffic.
Port Borden Pier Light
Location: Borden-Carleton Built: 1925 Status: Active
Fun Fact: The light was originally placed at the end of the pier as a method of guiding the car ferries to and from the Island.
Port Borden Front Range Light
Location: Borden-Carleton Built: 1917 Status: Decommissioned
Fun Fact: Like the Port Borden Pier Light, this range light was used to guide the ferry from Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick.
Seacow Head Lighthouse
Location: Fernwood Built: 1863 Status: Active
Fun Fact: This lighthouse is a part of a trio of Sister Lights, which also includes the North Cape Lighthouse and the Cape Jourimain Lighthouse in New Brunswick.
For more on PEI’s lighthouses visit: www.peilighthousesociety.ca and www.lighthousefriends.com
Which one of the above lighthouses do you like the most? How many of PEI’s lighthouses do you think you could see in one day? Comment Below.
4 comments
Lovely tour and blog post!
Nina
Thanks Nina! We’ll definitely let you know when Pt.2 is done. We’re looking forward to doing it in the next month or so.
I lived in Summerside for two years – 2012-2014 – on my street, where I still own a home is Summerside Back Range Light, I always thought it was so cool to live on a street with a Lighthouse – So nice to see it posted on your blog.
Thanks for sharing your story Sharon. I agree it is cool to live on a street with a lighthouse. I figured because of its location and being built around houses that it would be decommissioned, so I was amazed to learn that it’s still active which is great!