Canada - Cape Forchu Lighthouse

Cape Forchu Lighthouse is located near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. It sets on a point reaching out into the Gulf of Maine. The first tower was built here in 1839, and the double story keepers dwelling was built in 1912. This tower is 75 ft tall and was built in 1962, then destaffed in 1993 due to automation. In 1996 the Friends of Yarmouth Light Society opened the 1912 keepers house to visitors, and restored the station grounds. At the time of my visit in 2001, there was a small museum in the keeper's house and a tea room in the assistant's. While I was there, I was privileged to meet a Mr. Smith who use to live in the lighthouse with his parents and seven brothers and sisters. He was eighteen years of age when his father became the Lighthouse Keeper, and he helped his father by working some of the night shifts. He told of seeing his father having to use an axe to chop ice away from the entrance door of the tower so they could get in. Mr. Smith showed me the room where he lived in the house as well as the rooms where his siblings lived. This lighthouse holds the distinction of being the last lighthouse in Nova Scotia that was tended by resident light-keepers. Of all the lighthouses I have seen and visited in Canada, this one was my favorite, due to the personal connection Mr. Smith had to this lighthouse and his father as Lighthouse Keeper.