Achi news desk-
A historic lighthouse in southeast Prince Edward Island is among the finalists in a competition that could see thousands of dollars go to the site.
The historic Cape Bear Lighthouse is looking to win the $50,000 prize from the National Trust for Canada’s Next Great Save, a competition to help historic places.
Cape Bear Lighthouse & Marconi Station Inc., the nonprofit group that operates the lighthouse, wants to expand.
“It will take a little time, and a lot of money, so winning this would, sort of, give us a boost, or a jumpstart, to get this going,” said Valerie MacPherson, president of the Board of Directors.
He said they wanted to use the money to regenerate the site and move a neighboring building, Marconi Station, away from the shore next to the lighthouse.
The top of the lighthouse suffered some weather damage and is being repaired by a local metalworking shop. The group expects it will be back in place on the structure in about a month.
The lighthouse has been moved twice to protect it from the eroding shoreline.
Marconi Station has a special claim to fame: a connection to the wreck of the Titanic.
“That night, the operator, his name was Thomas Bartlett, he was working all night, and he was the first grounder, in Canada, to receive the distress call,” said MacPherson.
Many of the artefacts and exhibits are currently in storage without enough space to display them, including a desk that was inside the original station when the operator received that fateful call.
MacPherson said the $50,000 grand prize would change that.
“When they come they’re a bit disappointed because we don’t really have much to show them. We can tell them the story, and our staff do an excellent job of that, but they want to see things.”
This is not the only final in the Maritimes. The Arts Center of St. John, in a historic church in Arichat, Cape Breton, the last 12 too.
Voting ends on 6 May.
