Description: A lightship marked this dangerous hazard from at least 1866 until 1885, when a circular stone pier was constructed in fourteen feet of water near the southeast end of Colchester Reef under the direction of William Patrick Anderson. A wooden, hexagonal tower was built atop the pier to provide a two-storey dwelling for a keeper and to support a lantern room. In the early 1900s, a third-order Fresnel lens was being used in the lantern room to produce a fixed white light that had a focal plane of sixty feet and could be seen from up to fourteen miles. The original tower, which is shown in the black and white photograph at left, was removed in 1954.

The color picture at left was taken in 1976, before the tower was cantilevered off the side of the pier to make room for a helicopter landing pad.

References

1. Lightships and Lighthouses, Frederick A. Talbot, 1913.

Location: Located on Colchester Reef, 6.2 km (3.9 miles) southeast of Colchester, Ontario.
Latitude: 41.932389
Longitude: -82.892083

For a larger map of Colchester Reef Lighthouse, click the lighthouse in the above map or get a map from: Mapquest.

Travel Instructions: Colchester Reef Lighthouse is best seen by boat.

The lighthouse is owned by the Canadian Coast Guard. Grounds open, tower closed.

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See our List of Lighthouses in Ontario Canada