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The brightly striped red and white tower on Sambro Island, near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, is the oldest lighthouse in the Americas. The first act passed by the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, on October 2, 1758, authorized the lighthouse. It was paid for by a tax on vessels entering Halifax Harbour. The station was automated and destaffed in 1988. Of three keepers’ houses built in the 1960s, one was demolished for salvage in 1989 and another was burned down in 2007.
The Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society succeeded in having the lighthouse designated as a classified federal heritage building in 1996. Two years later, the tower was reshingled and repainted. In 2008, more restoration work was completed and a solar power system was installed. Another major restoration project was carried out in 2016. A new local nonprofit organization has also been formed to preserve the lighthouse: the Sambro Island Lighthouse Heritage Society.
Joe Flemming, who lives in Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia, is a past president of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society, and he has played a large role in the preservation of Sambro Lighthouse. Chris Mills is a former lighthouse keeper and the author of two books on lighthouses and keepers, and he was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society.
A 2016 video showing the restoration:
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Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org