Sometime during the wee hours of Sunday, September 14th, someone lit a fire in the old Principal Keeper's house on Sambro Island. The two story wooden frame building has stood on this granite island at the entrance to Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia since the early 1960s. A few meters away sits another abandoned keeper's house, while the island's 250 year old stone lighthouse stands watch from the island's peak.
As dawn broke on Sunday morning, a local resident frantically called the Coast Guard lifeboat station in Sambro village, saying "The lighthouse is on fire!" As the on- duty crew rushed to the station's fast rescue craft, they could see an ominous plume of black smoke above the tree line along the far shore of Sambro Harbour. But as they rounded Inner Sambro Island and headed to the open sea, the men noticed with great relief that the smoke was coming from another area of the island, away from the tower. Flooded with relief, but still concerned, they arrived on the island to find the former Principal Keeper's house engulfed in flames.
The Coast Guard's Regional Operations Centre in Halifax advised the men to keep an eye on the blaze, but not to extinguish it unless it threatened other areas of the island. Police officers later traveled out to the island to talk with visitors who had spent the night camping near the abandoned houses. They mentioned a group of young and noisy partiers who had left the island at about 3:00 that same morning. Chances are some of those youths are the culprits.
By Sunday afternoon, all that remained of the house was part of one wall, a chimney, and a basement full of smoking embers. The fire at Sambro's Head Keeper's house to arson underscores just how vulnerable North America's oldest operating lighthouse is, as are many other abandoned light stations. Although the island is officially off-limits to the public, anyone can land on the island at just about any time. A lack of care and regular checks at the site makes it all the more vulnerable to devastating vandalism.
Members of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society will meet with the Canadian Coast Guard and community members to map out a plan to keep Sambro Island safe from further mindless and destructive vandalism.
This story appeared in the
October 2008 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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