Thursday, March 5, 2020

Lighthouse of the Week, March 1-7, 2020: Rose Blanche, Newfoundland, Canada


Little did I know when I picked this lighthouse that it would have the backstory it does.  I just thought it looked good.  It's on the island of Newfoundland (location map), which as one would expect has a whole lot of lighthouses.

But this one is special;  it's a restored granite lighthouse.  As one of the Web sites says, it might be only restored granite lighthouse on the Atlantic seaboard. 

Let's learn a bit more about it.
"On July 26, 1871, Neville selected the location and work began soon after. Of granite construction and built by local workers, the building operated as a lighthouse from 1873 to the 1940s. The original light was a 4th order dioptric lit from sunset to sunrise at a height of 95 feet above sea level. It could be seen for 13 miles in clear weather."
(Neville was the builder/designer.)

If you read all the Web sites that I've got linked here, you will find out that Rose Blanche fell into "disrepair" over time, meaning that every wall of the place collapsed, leaving only the light tower (because it had a staircase inside to hold it up).   But it was actually rebuilt, with 70% of the original granite (one site says), and is now a dedicated museum and tourism site.

Now some stats, from the Lighthouse Directory, of course:
"12 m (40 ft) octagonal granite light tower with lantern and gallery, mounted at one end of a 1-1/2 story granite keeper's house; 6th order Fresnel lens. Fog horn (blast every 60 s) nearby."
After they restored it in the 1990s, they relit the lamp in 2002.

Now some sites about it:

Heritage of Newfoundland and Canada

Rose Blanche Lighthouse

Lighthouse Friends - Rose Blanche Lighthouse

And we shall finish with pictures and a video (which has a very powerful soundtrack).  I tracked down a picture of the lens they have there now,  a 6th order Fresnel lens -- and there are not many of them left.










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