Other Name(s)
n/a
Links and documents
Construction Date(s)
1907/01/01 to 1907/12/31
Listed on the Canadian Register:
2009/02/24
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Port Greville Lighthouse is a wooden, A-shaped lighthouse built in 1907 in Port Greville, Nova Scotia. The 8.3 meter structure stands near a river on the road-side property of the Age of Sail Heritage Centre on the outskirts of Port Greville over-looking the Greville River. Although it is no longer on its original site, it is close to its original community. The building and property are included in the municipal designation.
Heritage Value
The Port Greville Lighthouse is valued for its association with the sea-faring history of this area of Cumberland County. The important community landmark is also valued as being a good example of a typical Cumberland County lighthouse built during the turn of the century.
Historical Value: The lighthouse was built in 1907 and lit in 1908 to protect the many ships, crews and cargoes that travelled the rugged Nova Scotia shoreline along the Bay of Fundy’s Minas Channel. Shipbuilding and lumbering were the major industries of this area in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the lighthouse played a central role in the settlement and economic development of the Port Greville area by making travel safe for ships entering and leaving the port. Because land travel was so difficult here, all the communities in the area grew out of the ship-related economy.
In 1980, the lighthouse was decommissioned, cut into two pieces, loaded onto a flatbed truck, and moved to the Coast Guard College in Sydney, Cape Breton, where it stood until 1998, when a group of local citizens successfully lobbied to have the important community landmark returned to its home.
Architectural Value: The Port Greville Lighthouse is a typical turn-of-the-century lighthouse found in this part of Cumberland County. It is a white, A-shaped, square, wooden tower with a balcony completely surrounding the top just below the square lantern. The lighthouse has not changed since it was constructed.
Source: “Heritage Properties County, Port Greville Lighthouse” File, Cumberland County Museum
Character-Defining Elements
Character-defining elements of the Port Greville Lighthouse include:
- original form and massing;
- original wood shingles;
- 8.3 metre, tapered square, wood-frame tower topped with red hip roof;
- pediment red gable hood mouldings above door and windows;
- square lantern;
- balcony.
Recognition
Jurisdiction
Nova Scotia
Recognition Authority
Local Governments (NS)
Recognition Statute
Heritage Property Act
Recognition Type
Municipally Registered Property
Recognition Date
2001/05/05
Historical Information
Significant Date(s)
n/a
Theme - Category and Type
- Developing Economies
- Communications and Transportation
- Peopling the Land
- Settlement
Function - Category and Type
Current
- Leisure
- Museum
Historic
- Transport-Water
- Navigational Aid or Lighthouse
Architect / Designer
n/a
Builder
n/a
Additional Information
Location of Supporting Documentation
"Heritage Property County, Port Greville Lighthouse" File, Cumberland County Museum and Archives, 150 Church St, Amherst, NS B4H 3C4
Cross-Reference to Collection
Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier
11MNS0178
Status
Published
Related Places
n/a