West Point Lighthouse is called “the first of the 2nd generation” of lighthouses on PEI. It was the first one built by the new Department of Marine (also called Department of Marine and Fisheries). West Point was the first of the square towers, and the highest at 20.6 m (67 feet 8 inches) from ground to vane. Built by the firm of Messers. Mugridge and Co. from Shediac, New Brunswick for $4,559.59, it consisted of a square tapered tower of frame construction set on stone foundations. It had a 1 ½ storey, gable-roofed house with a lean-to storage shed. There were only two keepers during the 88 years before the tower was electrified in 1963.

In 1983, a volunteer group, the West Point Development Corporation, leased the tower from the Canadian Coast Guard and on July 1, 1984, began operating it as “Canada’s only Inn in a Lighthouse”. On May 21, 2002, it became the first lighthouse on PEI to have ownership transferred from the Federal Government to a community group.

The position of lightkeeper was a vital role, especially in the days when all goods and people arrived or left Prince Edward Island by ship. The lightkeeper was held in high esteem. In one community a resident said, “After the priest, he was the most important person.”

The keepers were supplied with a manual such as the 1879 Rules and Instructions for the Guidance of Lighthouse Keepers and of Engineers in Charge of Steam Fog Alarms in the Dominion of Canada. It outlined, in great detail, all aspects of the keepers duties. In addition to all the minute details of lighting the lamp, the keeper was to make sure in the morning that everything was ready for the next evening. This involved cleaning, polishing, replenishing the fuel, etc. Particular instructions were given that “the glass prisms and lenses of a dioptric apparatus are to be cleaned every day when in use, being first freed from dust by using the linen dusters slightly damped, and then rubbed with perfectly clean and dry chamois skins."

“The lightkeeper must perform any repairs which can be made without the assistance of any skilled labour, and which may be necessary to the efficiency of the light, and must paint the different parts when they require it, or when directed by the superintendent, for which no extra allowance will be paid him.”

The lightkeepers were to assist with the landing of stores and “observe the strictest economy and most careful management in the use of the stores.” Even broken parts were to be returned. For this reason it was necessary that the keeper be able to read and write as well as keep accounts. There was a considerable amount of paperwork, with even the simplest request having to be made in triplicate.

Of course, they were to render any possible assistance to vessels or persons in distress. This sometimes meant providing food or shelter at the lighthouse.

The keeper was not to leave the lighthouse except to draw salary and attend church. He was required to be sober, industrious, attentive to his duties, and orderly in his family. Such were the duties undertaken by the only two keepers who kept the West Point Lighthouse for eighty-eight years: William MacDonald, 1875-1925, and Benjamin MacIsaac, 1925-1963.

William MacDonald Lightkeeper 1875 - 1925

William Anderson MacDonald was born on August 29, 1846, in Glenwood, Prince Edward Island, where his parents had settled when they arrived from the Isle of Skye, Scotland. As a young man he moved to West Point to work at the shipyards. He married Maria Dyment and they lived on a farm adjacent to the shipyard. They had 8 children: Effa (1870), Mary (1874), Walter (1878-1885), Jack (1880), Bertha (1884), Stan (1887), Helen (1890) and Annie (1892).

He was appointed as lightkeeper of the West Point Lighthouse in 1875 and helped to build the lighthouse. Because there were a number of William MacDonald’s in the area, he was often referred to as Lighthouse Willie.

Lightkeepers' wages were not enough to support a large family so he continued to farm. In addition to the usual animals and crops raised on a typical farm of the day, he raised driving horses that were much prized for use with a light wagon or jaunting sleigh. His sister Sarah and her son Dave lived on the farm as well. The family supplied fresh produce to the workers at the shipyard. William walked 3.2 km (2 miles) along the shore every day to work on the farm, and returned each evening to attend to his light keeping duties.

The lamps had to be lit early enough to have their full effect by the time twilight ended. In the morning when the light was extinguished, the eight lamps had to have the lamp chimneys or flues washed, the kerosene oil had to be replenished, and any soot which might have accumulated had to be removed with metal prickers.

All reflectors had to be polished to a mirror-like surface. The glass in the lantern room had to be cleaned on the outside as well as the inside. This meant climbing through the short, narrow door and venturing onto the lantern deck in all weather. The weights had to be wound up every four hours all night. Fire was a constant danger in wooden lighthouses. In a later type of light, there was a fine wire that would break, thus shutting off the oil supply if the flames got too high in the lamp. A box of sand, shovels and buckets were kept on the fourth floor in case of fire. There was also a shelf containing spare lamp flues.

There was very strict accounting of all supplies delivered to the lighthouse by the Brant or other supply ships. Daily weather reports had to be entered in a keeper’s log, as well as other events of note. The painting of the lighthouse and day-to-day maintenance was the keeper’s responsibility, although arrangements could be made to hire local carpenters for bigger jobs. Apparently the authorities thought the keepers didn’t have enough to do, because the following notice appeared on May 21, 1888, in the PEI Agriculture newspaper: “All the lighthouse keepers of the Island have been appointed Fishery guardians, and will be sworn in by Commander Spain at an early date. The duties of this appointment will be discharged in conjunction with those keeping the lights. There will be no extra pay, as it is considered that the work of the lightkeepers will not be materially increased.”

It must have been a challenge to raise a large family at the lighthouse because the place had to be ready to pass a white glove inspection at any time from the lighthouse inspector. Floors were scrubbed on hands and knees, using water, sand and a sturdy scrubbing brush. There had to be enough bread and other food baked to supply any visitors or fishermen looking for provisions. The girls helped their mother and took over much of the housekeeping when Maria died in 1905, at the age of 53. Stan went to sea in the summers with his uncle and grandfather when he was eight years old, while Jack worked mainly on the farm. The third son, Walter, was diabetic and died at the age of seven.

Life at the lighthouse was not all work, and contrary to the isolation of many lighthouses, the West Point Lighthouse was in the centre of a bustling community. There was fishing, farming, shipbuilding, lumbering, and a number of lobster factories. The door was never locked, because sailors might need to come in for shelter from a storm. People loved to drop in for a visit to enjoy each other’s company and the hospitality of the family. There were relatives from “away” and visiting fishermen so the place was never lonely.

They bought a new organ when they moved to the lighthouse. Even though much of the visiting was done in the big kitchen, before people left, they would all go into the parlour where Maria or one of the children would play “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning”, a hymn about lighthouses which was based on a true story.

Sometimes strangers arrived wanting to climb to the top, so the youngsters learned to be good tour guides. In the early winter, before the Northumberland Strait froze over, young and old gathered to skate on a small lake behind the lighthouse.

According to a letter from his granddaughter, Wilma Robertson, (daughter of Annie), when World War I ended in November, 1918, William raised the flag on the lighthouse. The supply ship was sailing past, so it came in to see what he wanted. “Here he was, rejoicing over the peace at last and he thought they were pretty slow to know. He always had a little nip for the captain, of course”. 

This is another of her recollections of her mother’s days at the lighthouse: “When my mother was still a young girl and her mother was still alive, they never had the opportunity to go shopping. Grandfather did it all. He went on the train to Summerside in the morning and came back in the evening. He would have to drive by horse and buggy the twelve miles to O’Leary to meet the train. There were two girls about the shape of Mom and Aunt Helen and their hair colour was similar. Aunt Helen had dark auburn hair and Mom’s was very dark brown, therefore he would have blue material for Aunt Helen and pink prints for Mom. Also hats for the girls and grandmother, and any other material she needed. They had their own sheep, so they carded their own wool and spun the yarn. Everybody could knit.”

Despite the lighthouse, several boats still ran aground on the reef at West Point. One of these was the Inveresh, a square-rigged ship that was wrecked there in 1879. The North Star was wrecked when she came ashore with a load of coal. Several others, including the Roseneath and the Ruth Robinson were also lost. Crew members from the shipwrecks took refuge at the lighthouse. It was another of the keeper’s duties to look after them until they could return home.

When William retired in 1925, he was awarded the Imperial Long Service Medal for fifty years of service. He never missed a night of lightkeeping during that time. He lived with his daughter Mary (Mrs. Charles MacWilliams) until his death in 1934 at the age of 88.

Benjamin MacIsaac Lightkeeper 1925 - 1963

Bennie MacIsaac replaced William MacDonald as lightkeeper on April 9, 1925. He was a World War I veteran who had spent two years in the trenches before being wounded in 1918. He spent a year in hospitals in England and Halifax. He had served in Canada, England, France and Belgium. 

He was the keeper for thirty-eight years. In addition to his duties as keeper, he had a farm in Dunblane about 4.8 km (3 miles) from the lighthouse. The wages at that time were not enough to raise his large family: Chesley (1922), Lorna (1923), Donald (1924), Ada (1926), Annie (1827), George (1929), Robert (1931), Thelma (1933), Melba (1934), Elwood (1936), Foster (1938), Audrey (1939), Margaret Rose (1941), John (1943) and Debra (1947). Although the family did not live at the lighthouse, it was still an important part of their lives and they enjoyed the time spent there during summers with their father and friends.

Of course other family members learned the duties of the keeper. When Bennie became ill in October, 1959, his son George took over the physical work needed to run the light while his father kept up the considerable paperwork.

When Bennie stayed at the lighthouse during World War II, most of the responsibility for their family life fell to his wife, Pearl. He was only home for a few hours each day. One year he was issued a ton of coal, but many times he had to cut wood on his farm for both the lighthouse and the farmhouse.

The job of caretaker was a big responsibility for one man, especially during World War II, when day and night duty was required to guide ships and planes traveling in the area. He was equipped with a radio-telephone enabling him to make contact with the planes. His family could sometimes hear him on their radio, but could not contact him. The batteries for the radio were charged by a windmill at the lighthouse. He spent three winters at the lighthouse, which had never been meant for winter living. He said it was so cold a little white mouse crept into his bed occasionally and slept with him to keep warm. (He was such a great story teller that we never knew if that really happened.) 

Being a lightkeeper meant looking after the light and repairing it when things went wrong. It also meant being able to make adjustments to the light with the change in seasons, as the mercury and weight which timed the light revolutions would stiffen in the cold weather and throw the timing off. The equipment was operated by oil and in the winter 15 l (4 gallons) of oil a day had to be hauled up to the top floor of the lighthouse. In summer, it only took a 2 l (half gallon) a day to operate the light.

In winter, the heat from the light would cause a heavy layer of frost to form on the windows. To prevent that from happening, he had to wash the windows with a heavy salt brine which was very hard on the hands. Alcohol would do the same thing, but was very scarce during the war.

The grounding of the Norwegian ship, the Nandi, was an event that has lived long in the memory of everyone in the area. It occurred in mid-November, 1938. It had started to snow in the morning so Bennie decided to go down to the lighthouse early. He got his car stuck and had to walk back home. He tried to get the car out but could not, so he walked the three miles through the blinding snowstorm. At the school, the wind and visibility was so bad he feel into the ditch in icy water up to his knees. As he neared the lighthouse, about 3:00 pm, he heard a loud bellowing noise. He quickly went inside and lit the light, but couldn’t see a thing. It wasn’t until 11:00 pm that the storm cleared enough so he could see the lights of the Nandi as it lay stranded on the beach a mile or two north of the lighthouse. He later learned that the crew had thought they were near the shores of New Brunswick. Because of the extremely high tide, they had crossed over the West Point Reef, and then, thinking they would find shelter, they swung in towards the shore, ending up high and dry about a hundred yards from the beach. Neither the ship nor crew was injured, but it stayed aground until the following spring when it was re-floated. The crew went by train to Halifax and by ship to their homeland. Captain Sam Smith and his family stayed on board all winter and spent much time entertaining the many people who came to visit the 76.2 m (250 foot) vessel stranded on the shore. 

There were not as many social events at the lighthouse as there had been during William’s tenure. That is hardly surprising as many of the industries of William’s day had vanished and the Depression and World War II occurred while he was keeper. A fierce winter storm in the mid-forties destroyed the wharf, but the lighthouse escaped damage.

However, it continued to be a popular destination. People from miles around came to West Point on Sunday afternoon during the 1950’s. Many visited with Bennie in the evening. Bennie was a born storyteller, and many people visited him for the climb to the top while he lit the lamp, and then settled in for an evening of storytelling. The schoolchildren who went there in the evenings frequently ran home along the narrow trail, sure they were being pursued by ghosts or a headless man.

He was the second and last keeper of the West Point Lighthouse. He had kept the light from 1925 until 1963 when the lighthouse was automated on May 29, and a lightkeeper was no longer needed. Both Bennie and the social times at the lighthouse were missed very much when he retired, and an important chapter in the life of the community of West Point was closed.

Modern Lightkeeper

My name is Carol Livingstone. I have been fascinated by lighthouses as long as I can remember. My great-grandfather was Lighthouse Willie MacDonald. My family lived in the house closest to the lighthouse, and some of my earliest memories are of seeing the light flashing in the night, and hearing my elderly relatives talk about growing up there. I was one of the children who was terrified but delighted by Bennie’s stories. I am devoted to lighthouse development and preservation. I founded the group that operates the West Point Lighthouse and managed it for 7 years. I founded the PEI Lighthouse Society and was co-chair of the Atlantic Lighthouse Council. Lighthouses are such an important part of my life that my husband said I was married to them, which led to my nickname, Mrs. Lighthouse.

Many of the descendants of both William MacDonald and Bennie MacIsaac have been involved in the restoration and ongoing operation of the West Point Lighthouse. I believe we have to involve the children of today, so they will become the lightkeepers of tomorrow.