The first

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

in the Upper Bay of Fundy, started in 1838 and completed in 1840, is located at

Cape Enrage Cape Enrage is the name given to the southern tip of Barn Marsh Island, an island located in Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada, roughly half way along the coastline between the villages of Riverside-Albert and Alma at the eastern entrance to F ...

. It has been automated and unmanned since the 1980s, but it has recently become a popular

tourist destination A tourist attraction is a place of interest that Tourism, tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of ...

, as a result of a concentrated effort by local students to renovate the property and run it as a summer project. Frommer's travel guide lists it as one of the 'Best Views in Canada.'

History

Acadian sailors made early mention of 'Cap Enragé,' and after the

Acadian expulsion The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian pe ...

, British settlers anglicised the name to Cape Enrage. During the 1820 and 30s, Cape Enrage contested as the location of the first lighthouse in Chignecto Bay, and the site was selected as the preferred location. The lighthouse was completed in 1840.For a summary of the debate, see for example, Jeffrey P. Ward (2009) ''Head of the Bay: A History of the Maringouin Peninsula, Bay of Fundy, Canada'', Sackville: Tantramar Heritage Trust, p. 96. The competing locations were Grindstone Island and Apple River. A variety of boathouses and temporary lighthouse keeper's houses were built over the next decades, but were frequently damaged or destroyed in the region's numerous storms and harsh winters. The lighthouse itself was heavily damaged in one storm in the 1840s, and was extensively repaired. The current lighthouse keeper's house dates from 1952. The lighthouse was automated in the late 1980s by the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...

, and the last lighthouse keeper, Noel Justison, left the property in 1988. The property quickly began to suffer from neglect and vandalism, and by 1993 all of the buildings except the lighthouse were scheduled for demolition by the government. However, in 1993 a small group of high school students from

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

, under the supervision of Dennison Tate, their physics teacher, began a restoration project at the site, renovating all of the buildings and slowly turning the site into a tourist destination. From 1993 to 2009 Cape Enrage Interpretive Centre, a not-for-profit, student-run organisation, maintained the property and the students also offered

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

rappelling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

, and

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

in the summer months through the for-profit business, Cape Enrage Adventures. In 1995 the keepers house transferred from the Canadian Coast Guard to Province of New Brunswick along with 4+ acres of land. In the summer of 2004 the Canadian Coast Guard formally transferred ownership of the lighthouse to Cape Enrage Adventures and Cape Enrage Interpretive Centre.

References

External links

Aids to Navigation
Canadian Coast Guard
Cape Enrage Light House HistoryCape Enrage Nature Preserve
{{Authority control , additional=Q106241238 Lighthouses in New Brunswick

History

See also

References

External links