Simcoe Island's Nine Mile Point Lighthouse declared surplus
Posted Jul 22, 2010 By Margaret Knott
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EMC Lifestyle - Simcoe Island resident, Yelda Miedema invited interested Simcoe and Wolfe Island permanent and summer residents to a meeting to determine steps they could take to protect the island's historic Nine Mile Point Lighthouse and to discuss the ramifications of the 'Heritage Lighthouse protection Act' unveiled by the government May 29th.
Nine Mile Point lighthouse, seen here, is one of 480 lighthouses that the Canadian Coast Guard has declared as surplus. Local resident, Yelda Miedema has invited Simcoe and Wolfe Island residents to join her in trying obtain a Heritage designation for the lighthouse.
The Nine Mile Point Lighthouse is among the 480 active lighthouses maintained by the Coast Guard and declared surplus to its needs by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Also on the list is the lighthouse in the Main Duck Islands in Lake Ontario.
The Act offers groups, municipalities, or individuals, the opportunity to seek a heritage designation for certain surplus lighthouses and to assume responsibility for their maintenance.
This was not Miedema's first attempt to seek support for preserving the lighthouse. He recently requested help at a meeting to determine areas for the distribution of Wolfe Island Wind Farm (amenities) funding.
"The government is going to sell off, privatise or offload all light houses declared surplus," he said at the time. 'The Nine Mile Point lighthouse is the oldest working lighthouse on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes and the thought of it falling into public hands does not sit well... It might be that some of the (Wind Farm) funds, $20 to $30,000 a year, could be spent by the township (Frontenac Islands) to maintain it in perpetuity as a heritage site." (WI Historical Society president Brian MacDonald offered information regarding the new Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act at that meeting.)
At the Simcoe meeting Miedema presented a brief history of the Nine Mile Point Lighthouse, built in 1833, remote until a regular ferry to Simcoe Island began in 1964, manned until 1978 and automated that year. He spoke of the long time relationship of the Orr and Eves families to the lighthouse as keepers of the light, to its automation and the sell off of the light keepers house. Since then the property has been fenced off and gated with 'no entry' signs posted by the Coastguard.
Not always thus, stories were told of the old days when the lighthouse keepers welcomed the public to the site, when school children came with their teachers and were treated to the harrowing stories of ships on the Great Lakes, so much a part of Canada's Maritime history.
Miedema went on to highlight sections of the Heritage Protection Act focusing on the possibility of a heritage designation of any federally-owned lighthouse property. However according to the act, a surplus lighthouse may only be designated as a heritage site if a municipality, a group or an individual submits a written commitment to acquire the lighthouse and protect its heritage character.
"We have two years to petition the Minister of the Environment to designate our lighthouse," Yelda said. "What are the pro's and con's? Should we do it? Can we do it? How? What about forming a 'Friends of Nine Mile Point Lighthouse'? The bigger question, as with any venture such as this became, "How do we sustain the lighthouse in the long term without money? "
A vigorous discussion about the lighthouse, its condition, value, restoring public access, residential privacy, tourism, ferry capacity, transportation, parking, were all brought forward and will require further discussion. But in the end, as a first step, everyone who was eligible to do so, was invited to sign a petition requesting the Nine Mile Point Lighthouse be designated as a 'heritage site'.
The petition will be available in the community for further signatures. There will be further meetings.
AROUND TOWN:
Visit the Wolfe Island Wind Farm, Thursday, July 22nd,5- 7 p.m. at the Operations Centre, 209 4th Line, across from the Alston Moor Golf Course , Free Certified CPR Course & Intro to Defibrillator offered by Wolfe Island Volunteer Ambulance Service for seasonal/permanent residents (14 & older), July 24th (am & pm sessions) To register call: Perry Chesney 385-2972 or Nadine Greenwood 385-2227.
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