Point Clark is a lakefront cottage community on

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 ...

, in Ontario

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is approximately 15 kilometres south of Kincardine and 40 kilometres north of Goderich. Main streets include Huron Road and Lake Range Road. Point Clark is served by

Highway 21 (Ontario) King's Highway 21, commonly referred to as Highway 21, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that begins at Highway 402 midway between Sarnia and London and ends at Highway 6, Highway 10 and Highway 26 i ...

. It is a cottage town, and has a rare Imperial Tower style lighthouse. There is a sandy

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

and a small

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

with a boat ramp. There are two

streams A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s that run into Lake Huron around Point Clark: Clark Creek and Pine River. There is a separate harbour in the mouth of the Pine River.

Amberley Amberley may refer to: Places Australia *Amberley, Queensland, near Ipswich, Australia *RAAF Base Amberley, a Royal Australian Air Force military airbase United Kingdom * Amberley, Gloucestershire, England * Amberley, Herefordshire, England ...

is just outside and to the south of Point Clark and

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

is to the south-east of Point Clark. This lighthouse of one of 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 ...

built in the 1850s on

and

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

. They were built at a time when commercial shipping traffic was increasing on the Great Lakes between Canada and the U.S. because of new trade agreements and the opening of the

Sault Ste. Marie Canal The Sault Ste. Marie Canal is a National Historic Site in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and is part of the national park system, managed by Parks Canada. It includes a lock to bypass the rapids on the St. Marys River. The first canal near the s ...

locks in 1855. The Bruce Peninsula was also open to settlement by 1850, making the lighthouses timely. All were made of cut limestone and granite, not of brick, metal, wood or concrete as most others were on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. The

Point Clark Lighthouse Point Clark Lighthouse is located on in a beach community, Point Clark, Ontario, near a point that protrudes into Lake Huron. Built between 1855 and 1859 under the instructions of the Board of Works, Canada West, it is one of the few on the Grea ...

was formally registered as one of the

National Historic Sites of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

on 25 May 1966. It is the only lighthouse on the Great Lakes and Georgian Bay to receive that highest level of merit. The light keeper's house is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building, a place of historic interest (14 July 1994). Both can be toured by the public.

History

In 1850, Point Clark was originally called The Point and the Post Office was called Pine River. Later, the area was known as Pine Point as a lantern was hung from a

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

to warn sailors of the shoal off the point, prior to the building of the

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 ...

. After settlers moved in from Clark Township, Huron County, the area was known as "Clark's Point". Later, the town received the name it bears today—Point Clark.' At the end of 1853, six municipalities were formed in the new township of Huron. Capt. Henry C. Gamble, an Irish man arrived in 1856 to visit to his brother, J. W. Gamble. He decided to remain and to develop the area into a business centre. He bought land near the mouth of the river and built a saw and grist mill. At the time, the neighbourhood was called "The Point." Capt. Gamble did not succeed with his plan to develop the area and returned to Ireland. The government arranged for the building of the

between 1855 and 1859, during the building of the Imperial Towers; many referred to it as the Pine Point light. The tower and keeper's home were extensively restored between 2011 and 2014 and reopened to the public in 2015. The museum in the keeper's home and an outbuilding provides a glimpse into the life of light keepers of the past. Since the lighthouse is on the mainland (not on an island) it can easily reached by vehicle. The entire facility including the tower, operated by the Township of Huron-Kinloss, can be toured from mid June to

Labour Day Labour Day ('' Labor Day'' in the United States) is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for ...

for a fee.

References

External links

Point Clark Official Government
{{authority control Populated places on Lake Huron in Canada Communities in Bruce County