Cape dOr Lighthouse

The keeper's houses were left vacant after 1989, but fortunately they were not removed or burned. In 1995 the Advocate District Development Association obtained a lease through the County of Cumberland and repaired the houses. Today, one is the Lightkeeper's Kitchen and the other a Guesthouse. This is the only lightstation in Nova Scotia where you can stay in a keeper's house. Part of the Fundy Shore Ecotour.

A fog whistle was established on the cape in 1875 to warn mariners of the tidal rips. The first light, a square wooden tower, painted white, standing on a red wooden trestle, was built in 1922. This light was a typical small "pepperpot." It is believed to have been moved to the cape by water from Apple River by Percy Smith and brought up the cliff from the cove to a site just beyond the present lighthouse. A steam fog signal, in a wooden building painted brown, was installed at the same time as the lighthouse.

From the evidence in photographs, the first keeper's house was built at the site of the current lighthouse. Walter Barteaux, whose father kept the light for 19 years beginning in 1939, recalled that "Sometimes the roof of the old house we lived in used to lift a bit in the storms and rocks would blow up from the cliffs or the sea would fire wood up the bank." He grew up at the cape and went to school from there. "It was five miles to the local school and most of the time we walked. There were no roads here, just a wagon track in those days."

Cape d'Or sits within the Cliffs of Fundy UNESCO Global Geopark, and the surrounding coastline is a highlight of our Annapolis Valley self-drive itinerary. For a uniquely Bay of Fundy adventure, plan a stop on a tidal bore rafting tour.