Province Celebrates Lighthouse Day

For the first time in what is hoped will be an annual event, Lighthouse Day is being celebrated in Nova Scotia on Saturday, Oct. 2.

Various museums and community groups across Nova Scotia will be offering events and activities to celebrate Lighthouse Day in an effort to draw attention to issues affecting lighthouses, including preservation.

This date is a significant one in Nova Scotia. On Oct. 2, 1758, legislation was passed to create Sambro Lighthouse near Halifax, now the oldest surviving lighthouse in North America. In 1968, the Nova Scotia Museum acquired the lighthouse lens when the Sambro light was in the process of being electrified. When the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, opened its doors in January 1982, the Sambro lens became a centrepiece and remains a popular attraction to this day.

To celebrate Lighthouse Day, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax has a number of activities planned throughout the day:

• Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society Information desk and displays will be available from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

• 10 a.m., slide show, Lighthouses of Nova Scotia: A Virtual Tour, Lew Perry

• 11 a.m. tour of lighthouse artifacts and stories

• noon, slide show, Sambro Island Lighthouse: A History

• 1 p.m., children's workshop, Build a model Sambro Lighthouse, Graham McBride. A $5 fee for materials, payable to instructor. Advance registration is required. Call 902-424-7490.

• 2 p.m., talking foghorns, How lightkeepers saved ships and talked to them with hand-cranked foghorns. Try your hand with one.

• 3 p.m., slide show, The Need for a Lighthouse Protection Act, David Curry

• 4 p.m., tour of lighthouse artifacts and stories

For information about additional activities across the province, call Bruce Cochrane at 902-465-3549.