Indian Point Lighthouse, A Range Lighthouse Story.
What is a range lighthouse?
According to Lighthouses of New Brunswick: Past and Present by Kraig Anderson and Kelly Anne Loughery (Nimbus Publishing, 2012), they are defined as a "pair of lights that indicate a safe course when lined up one above the other. Sometimes one or both may be displayed from simple skeletal towers, but older range lights can often be fine heritage structures." (p. 152)
This is interpreted this to mean one light would be close to the shore (front) and a second one would be further inland (rear).
This same publication further explains that there were originally range lights at Cape
Tormentine in 1902 to help guide the steamship Stanley. When the ferry terminal was completed in 1917, Cape Tormentine Entrance Range lights were built near the ferry terminal. The range towers were square and wooden. The lights were later replaced by poles.
Cape Jourimain appears to be the only lighthouse of the group to be built in the 19th
Century. There is frequent confusion between between the Cape Tormentine, Indian Point and Monckton lighthouses. There was also a mention in Lighthouses of Atlantic Canada by Courtney Thompson (CatNap Publications, 2000) of an Indian Point Lighthouse that "was established in 1883. The rear range light is in the woods, across the road" (p.34). However, this is shown on a map as further north from Cape Tormentine, past Shediac and closer to Bouctouche. However it appears to an entirely separate lighthouse.
Indian Point Lighthouse (Front Range)
-destroyed by fire in June of 2022, known simply as the “Indian Point Lighthouse” or locally
as “tent city lighthouse”
-fundraising efforts will resume in Spring 2023 to complete reconstruction at the Cape Tormentine Beach Campground
-the ranges are used in navigation to indicate a safe passage for vessels
-original structures called “Cape Tormentine Entrance Range Towers” were constructed in
1917 and were square, pyramid like, wooden structures that had a vertical red stripe painted down the sea facing side to indicate the range line
-in 1947 the “Cape Tormentine Entrance Range Towers” were replaced by poles. This may
address why community members have described Indian Point Front Range as being much
older than the construction date of 1955
-the new towers were activated a few kilometers east at Indian Point
-until 1966 the Indian Point Range seaward face had a daymark of a red diamond painted
on it
-it’s been inactive since 1998
-often confused with Fort Monckton Lighthouse which burned down in the late 1950s. Which was then replaced by a cylindrical tower that was in place until 1972 (no longer present)
- Indian Point Lighthouse keeper: Dana Allen (1955 – 1962)
-Position: Front: formally 46.10790 N, -63.77290, Rear: 46.10455, -63.77675
References:
Lighthouses of New Brunswick: Past and Present by Kraig Anderson and Kelly Anne Loughery
(Nimbus Publishing, 2012) P. 97, 98, 99
Lighthouses of Atlantic Canada by Courtney Thompson (CatNap Publications, 2000) P. 33, 87
Maritime Lighthouses by Jordan Crow (Nimbus Publishing, 2012) P. 39
Lighthouses of Canada by David M. Baird (Red Deer Press, 2003) P. 32
The Lighthouse by Dudley Witney (McCleland and Stuart, 1975) P. 133
Online Resources:
Indian Point Range Front Lighthouse:
https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=996
Cape Tormentine Outer Warf Lighthouse:
https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=994
Cape Tormentine Outer Warf Rear Lighthouse:
https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=995
CBC News Article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/lighthouse-suspicious-fire-cape-tormentine-
This informal research project was undertaken Summer 2022 by the Beacon Of The East special projects division of the Cape Tormentine Community Development Corporation. If you have stories, photos, artifacts or information about Indian Point Lighthouse, our other lighthouses or Cape Tormentine in general please email: capetormentine@gmail.com
2022 blueprint above developed by architect to support the Indian Point Lighthouse Rebuild, fundraising to complete the structure resumes in Spring 2023