|
In 1880, a petition from Isaac Bartlett and other residents of Bay Roberts and neighboring settlements on Conception Bay calling for the establishment of a lighthouse on Bay Roberts Point was presented to the Newfoundland House of Assembly. Now commonly known as Green Point, Bay Roberts Point is the eastern end of the Port de Grave Peninsula, which defines the southern side of the entrance to Bay Roberts Harbour.
John T. Neville, Inspector of Lighthouses, noted in 1882 that four cast-iron towers had been prepared for harbour lights at Sandy Point, Point La Haye, Brigus, and Bay Roberts Point. By the close of 1882, a store had been partially built on Green Point under contract, and the iron tower was in storage at Bay Roberts, ready to be sent to the point whenever the weather became sufficiently open for it to be erected.
During the first part of 1883, the iron tower was put up on Green Point and equipped with its illuminating apparatus, a keeper was appointed, and the light was placed in operation. The tower, which was painted with two red and three white horizontal bands, displayed a fixed white light using a sixth-order lens that was housed in the triangular-glazed lantern room. A unique feature of this tower was its additional bank of lights designed to help mariners avoid the dangerous rocks located just offshore. The following description of this feature was published in the annual Light List:
Immediately beneath the principal white light, is a projecting lantern, in which three lamps are placed. The two outer ones will show white, and the centre one, in a line with the Southern rocks, N.E. ½ E. (mag.) from the tower, will be red.
The first keeper of the lighthouse was Robert Andrews of Ship Cove. The inspection report for 1895 noted that a porch was required for the keeper’s house, which was painted white and located adjacent to the tower. A galvanized iron tank was partially buried at the station in 1885 to store the kerosene oil that was burned in the light.
In 1931, the light was converted from kerosene to electricity, and a few years later the dwelling was torn down, as a resident keeper was no longer required for the automated light. Instead, a nearby resident was hired to serve as a caretaker. Today, the light runs off solar-charged batteries.
The tower was classified a Recognized Federal Heritage Building in 1990, and then a Heritage Lighthouser under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act that was passed in 2008. On August 5, 2019, the local community gathered to celebrate the transfer of Green Point Lighthouse and the surrounding land to the Port de Grave Peninsula Heritage Society. A plaque noting the heritage designation was unveiled and the extension of Lighthouse Road to Green Point Lighthouse was officially opened.
Keepers: Robert Andrews (at least 1886 - 1901), A. Andrews (1902 - 1903), Richard Lear (1904 - at least 1912), James Petten, Graham Petten, Richard French.
References