The Cape Bonavista Lighthouse, Newfoundland
Wednesday, June 24th, Day 27 of our trip and the 20th day in Newfoundland, was a full day of exploring Bonavista, and we began at the lighthouse. We had parked for the night at the Landfall Municipal Park a few hundred meters away.
I began the day, though, with the realization that June 24th is the anniversary of John Cabot’s landing here in 1497 – how cool!! Here’s John looking over us and out to sea at 09:40 as we got ready to head out.
We drove up to the main parking lot to make the walk easier for Cathy, so went early to be sure of getting a spot there.
We began at the puffin island, which, after having no puffins the previous day, now had hundreds, As at Elliston, they were rather distant, but that was okay – being close is just a bonus that may or not happen 🙂
The Visitor Centre is mostly a place to buy tickets to tour the lighthouse, but has some information about lighthouses, puffins, and icebergs. This is a Provincial Historic Site, so admission as with all the other sites. is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors (60+), and 16 and younger are free.
The Visitor Centre provides a photo op I’d missed the previous day 🙂
The lighthouse keeper’s house has been very well done here, and the guide gave me new insights into the lives they led. At lighthouses that were close to a community as this one is, the lighthouse keeper and his family were generally active, well-respected members of that community.
One of the children’s bedrooms.
Yes, this looks like a comfortable life.
The office, with all the signal flags handy.
The workshop.
From seeing the reflectors in the tower from below, I was excited about going up those stairs! 🙂
This is one of the few lighthouses in the world where you can still climb up the stone tower and see the seal-oil-fueled catoptric light apparatus. The system came from the Isle of May in Scotland it was first installed in Newfoundland in 1850 by Robert Oke at the Cape Pine lighthouse, was later moved to the Harbour Grace Island lighthouse, and finally was installed here at Cape Bonavista. It consists of Argand oil lamps and parabolic mirrors of polished silver.
The system was simple to use and maintain, effective, and also beautiful.
I expected to get an explanation of how the system works, but was extremely pleased to also actually see it demonstrated.
That mechanism at work requires a video.
A small cabinet to hold the simple tools needed to adjust and maintain the system.
The stairs back down.
This was an exceptionally good way to start my day – the best lighthouse visit ever 🙂
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