Cape Bonavista Light
Cape Bonavista Light is a lighthouse located on Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland. Cape Bonavista Lighthouse, which operated from 1843 until 1962, is now operated as a provincial museum, displaying artifacts from the 1870s.[1]
History
The lighthouse at Cape Bonavista was built between 1841 and 1843 to mark the entrances to Bonavista and Trinity bays and to aid mariners headed for Labrador. It is the fourth-oldest lighthouse in Newfoundland. The two-story wooden building is constructed around a masonry tower surmounted by a lantern. The first lamps and reflectors came from the Bell Rock Lighthouse in Scotland.[2] This apparatus was later replaced by a catoptric system from the Harbour Grace Lighthouse on the Isle of May in Scotland. In 1962 the lighthouse went dark, replaced by an electric light on a nearby steel skeleton tower.
In the 1970s the lighthouse was restored for use as a museum by the provincial government.[3] The building contains furniture and artifacts representing the pre-1870 period. The rare catoptric lighting system, made up of Argand oil lamps and parabolic mirrors of polished silver, is on display. Exhibits on local industry include coopering, fishing, whaling and sealing, as well as the ecological history of Cape Bonavista.
On August 3, 2001 a disastrous electrical storm struck Cape Bonavista. As lightning struck repeatedly all around the cape, the lighthouse tower was hit three times, igniting a fire. Quick action by the fire department prevented more severe damage.[4]
References
- ↑ Cape Bonavista Lighthouse Provincial Historic Site - A Guiding Light.
- ↑ "Cape Bonavista lighthouse". Lighthouse Depot. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
- ↑ "Provincial Historic Sites of Newfoundland and Labrador". Archived from the original on 2007-12-25. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
- ↑ "Canada's Cape Bonavista Lighthouse Recovers from Disaster". Lighthouse Depot/Lighthouse Digest. Retrieved 2010-10-02.