Chantry Island Lighthouse after Renovations

Chantry Island is a small island in

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

, south of the mouth of the

Saugeen River The Saugeen River is located in southern Ontario, Canada, Ontario, Canada. The river begins in the Osprey, Ontario, Osprey Wetland Conservation Lands and flows generally north-west about before exiting into Lake Huron. The river is navigable for ...

and approximately a kilometre off the shores of the town of

Southampton, Ontario Southampton is a community on the shores of Lake Huron in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, and close to Port Elgin. It is located at the mouth of the Saugeen River in the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Territory. The size of the town is 6.44 square kilome ...

. It is approximately 19 hectares (47 acres) in size and is a migratory bird sanctuary. Since the sanctuary territory extends 183 metres into the water surrounding the island, the total official area is listed as 63 hectares (160 acres). British naval officer and surveyor

Henry Wolsey Bayfield Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield (21 January 1795 – 10 February 1885) was a British naval officer and surveyor. Early life and career Bayfield was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, to John Wolsey Bayfield and Eliza Petit. His family was an ancien ...

named the island in 1822 after the British sculptor

Francis Leggatt Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

. The island was designated as one of the

Canadian Wildlife Service The Canadian Wildlife Service or CWS (french: Service canadien de la faune), is a Branch of the Department of the Environment (Environment and Climate Change Canada), a department of the Government of Canada. November 1, 2012 marked the 65th ann ...

's migratory bird sanctuaries in 1957 because it is an important migratory stop for birds traveling to northern nesting sites. At certain times of year, it is home for many mating birds including,

double crested cormorant The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes, and in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alas ...

seagulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

herring gull Herring gull is a common name for several birds in the genus ''Larus'', all formerly treated as a single species. Three species are still combined in some taxonomies: * American herring gull (''Larus smithsonianus'') - North America * European he ...

ring billed gull The ring-billed gull (''Larus delawarensis'') is a medium-sized gull. The genus name is from Latin ''Larus'' which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird. The specific ''delawarensis'' refers to the Delaware River. Description ...

, black-crowned night herons,

great blue herons The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Isl ...

and

great egrets The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

Fisheries and Oceans Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; french: Pêches et Océans Canada, MPO), is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and sc ...

owns the island (and some of the surrounding water) and leases it to the Municipality of

Saugeen Shores, Ontario Saugeen Shores is a town in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, formed in 1998. In addition to the two main population centres of Southampton and Port Elgin, the town includes a portion of the village of Burgoyne and the North Bruce area, straddling the ...

. The Ontario region of the

manages the sanctuary. The island is the location of one of the six

Imperial Towers The Imperial Towers of Ontario were six of the earliest lighthouses built on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, all constructed primarily of stone, by the Province of Canada. The origin of the designation ''Imperial'' is not certain, but some histor ...

, the

Chantry Island Lighthouse The Chantry Island Lighthouse, officially known as Chantry Island Lightstation Tower, is a lightstation on Chantry Island, off the coast of Southampton, Ontario in Lake Huron. It was constructed in the years 1855 through to 1859, by John Brown ...

, which was constructed in 1859; the keeper's dwelling was built at the same time. Fully restored, both are listed on the

Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; french: Le Répertoire canadien des lieux patrimoniaux), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic sites in Canada which have been formally recognized for their her ...

. Because the island is a bird sanctuary, only a single company, the Marine Heritage Society, has a permit to take visitors for a tour of the lightstation, several times a week from late May to mid-September; the rest of the island is off limits to such visitors.

References

External links

ChantryIsland.com (Marine Heritage Society)
- Official website {{coord, 44.4898, -81.4039, type:isle_region:CA, display=title Lake islands of Ontario Islands of Lake Huron in Ontario Important Bird Areas of Ontario