Group Receives Deed From Coast Guard

After twelve years of work, and leasing Green’s Point Lighthouse year to year, the community of Letete, New Brunswick, CA has finally obtained ownership of the light from the Canadian Coast Guard. A story in the Telegraph Journal highlights the hard work and dedication provided by the Green’s Point Light Association members, all the while wondering if their beloved lighthouse would be sold to a “commercial company and they would put up a gate and put a Red Lobster restaurant there or something.”

Although a Red Lobster restaurant would be unlikely in this coastal community on the Bay of Fundy, their concerns have been legitimate, since Canada only recently enacted their Act to Protect Heritage Lighthouses. And that won’t fully come into effect until at least 2010. And without this protection, all of Canada’s lighthouses have been at risk of being sold, torn down, or just neglected until they crumbled. Green’s Point has been inactive since 1999, although the foghorn remains in use.

Association Did Own Restoration

Members of the Green’s Point Light Association rebuilt the damaged foundation, did the renovations and painting all by themselves. With citizens of Letete helping, they have amassed an impressive collection of artifacts to put into the museum they created from the old lightkeeper’s house. Still there’s work to be done. New windows are needed, and a new paint job is due. To raise money for their work, they renovated old Coast Guard housing unit, and turned it into a cozy cottage sleeping five. They rent it out on a weekly basis, for only $500 (CDN) a week. That’s an amazing deal since everything is included but the food. Sorry, though, it’s fully booked for this year.

Amenities listed on the website include:

• Sleeps 5 (double bed in bedroom, sofa bed in living room, available roll-out bed). Bedding supplied.
• Fully equipped kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave, coffeemaker, all utensils, cookware, dishes, dish detergent, and paper towels.
• Bathroom with shower. Towels, soap, shampoo, etc., supplied.
• Propane gas grill, lawn chairs.

First There Was a Foghorn

The Association has a fascinating history on their website of this light. It is the first time I’ve read that a fog station was established long before the lightstation was constructed. It was probably more important though, since the area is known for heavy fog, rocky ledges, an important shipping passage, and did I say heavy fog. It’s pretty hard to see a light in the dense pea soup that covers this part of the coast, but a foghorn would surely help to prevent any shipwrecks.

Another unusual fact about this lighthouse is that it was home to probably they youngest foghorn keeper in history, an infant named Sidney Dines. His father Charles was a sailor, who was forced to spend long periods of time at sea. When his wife died after giving birth to Sidney, that was a bit of a problem. His solution? Leave the infant with his buddy George Helms, who was the Foghorn Keeper at Green’s Point.

George accepted the duty, and promptly declared little Sidney the First Assistant Foghorn Keeper. Perhaps he was merely fond of him, but more likely it was to have the infant earn his keep, even at such a young age, by receiving a salary from the government for his “duties.” He actually did take over the job as Head Keeper in 1897 at the age of 16, as by that time George Helms had either retired or died (unclear, other than he was no longer in the picture).

Green’s Point Island became a light station in 1903, and Sidney, his wife and son were there to watch the pieces of the lighthouse moved in by barge from St. Andrews. It was reassembled on the site, and Dines took over as the first Lightkeeper. A causeway between the island and mainland was constructed in 1907, and life became much easier for Keeper Dines and his family.

Above information is taken from The History of Green’s Point by Darrel Welles of the Association.

Photo credit: Both shots by 8ballwayne on Community Webshots.

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