Range Lights

There are 40 (20 pairs) of range lights in the PEI lighthouse family.  Each pair of range lights includes a front range and a rear range and mark the entrance to a harbour.  Range lights were used by boat captains to pilot their craft safely into harbour by visually lining up the front and rear range lights to get their heading.  For this reason, the front range is typically shorter and the rear range is taller. Range lights often have a vertical red stripe on them as day marks to help the pilot visually line up the pair of lights to find their heading.

One range light – Leard’s Front Range in Victoria-by-the-Sea has been converted to the Victoria Seaport Museum.

Port Borden Front Range Light

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The square tapered tower is 6.5 m (21' 3" feet) high, and stands on a high cape. This shingled tower has no decorative details. It has one seaward window where the light was set in the wooden lantern.

There is no lantern gallery. There is a shed dormer over the door of the lighthouse. There is a red fascia at the joining of the tower and the wooden lantern.

Driving Directions:

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Red Sands Shore Drive - Exit Highway 1 in Borden-Carleton at the Gateway Village and follow Borden Avenue south to the Marine/Rail Historic Park. You can view the Port Borden Front Range Light from the park, or drive towards it to get a closer view. It appears the lighthouse is surrounded by private property but there is a right of way.

GPS Coordinates: 46 15 00.4 N 63 41 41.5 W

Technical Data
  • Status: Decommissioned
  • FHBRO Number: 90-121
  • LOL number: 1016
  • Date Built: 1917
  • Electrification and De-staffing Dates: Decommissioned June, 1997
  • Focal Height: 15.2m, 49' 8"
  • Light: was a yellow fixed light.
  • Tower height: 6.5m, 21' 3"
Historic Data

The site was expropriated February 12, 1917, allowing the range light to be built later that year.

The Port Bordon Front Range Light guided the ferries between Borden, PEI and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick.

When in operation, its light showed through a window at the top of the tower on the seaward side. Along with the Back Range light, it was moved in 1923 and again in 1954-55.

This range light was decommissioned in June 1997 with the completion of the Confederation Bridge. It had deteriorated badly but has since been restored.

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Lighthouse Keepers

W. Carruthers was the first light keeper of both range lights.

Current Owners/ Operators:

The town of Bordon - Carleton now owns this range light.