Cornwall, situated on the shore of the St. Lawrence River, is the easternmost city in Ontario. Offshore from Cornwall lies the sizable Cornwall Island and just east of it is Île Saint-Régis. Stonehouse Point, also known as Glengarry Point, is located on the mainland north of the eastern tip of Île Saint-Régis, and it was here in 1873 that a lighthouse was built. The Annual Report of the Department of Marine for that year provides the following information on the lighthouse:

Another new lighthouse was erected last season, at Stonehouse Point, in the River St. Lawrence, a few miles above the one in Hamilton’s Island. It is a square wooden tower, painted white, with a dwelling-house attached. The light is a fixed white light on the catoptric principle, consisting of three mammoth flat-wick lamps, with 18-inch reflectors, and can be seen at a distance of about 12 miles where not intercepted by the land. Mr. Kenneth Maclauchlan was appointed keeper on 3rd September last, at a salary of $150 per annum, and the light was first exhibited on the 25th day of July last. The total cost of its construction up to 31st December last, was $1,739.40.

The iron lantern room atop the lighthouse had a diameter of six feet, and the focal plan of the light was forty-two feet above the river. The 1871 census shows that Keeper McLachlan and his wife Margaret had four children. A report on the lighthouse in 1878 indicated that Keeper McLachlan then had eight children and that the station was kept in very good order. Keeper McLachlan died in 1878. Margaret took over responsibility for the lighthouse and served until 1900.

Kate Casgrain, who owned land adjoining the lighthouse property, was appointed keeper of the light in 1900. She served until 1906, at which time her son Rene, who was already in charge of seven automatic gaslights between Cornwall and Hamilton Island, was made keeper. Rene Casgrain served until the light was discontinued in 1914 and replaced by a red cylindrical gas buoy.

In 2023, there was a navigational light just upstream known as McGibbons Point Light. A white cylindrical tower marked by "D80" displays a fixed directional green light from Gibbons Point.

Keepers: Kenneth McLachlan (1873 – 1878), Margaret McLachlan (1878 – 1900), James H. Aitken (1900 – 1903), Kate Casgrain (1903 – 1906), Rene Casgrain (1906 – 1914).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine, various years.

No light exists at Stonehouse Point today.

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