This is the second rear range light here, as the first was sold, moved, and incorporated into a private residence. This lighthouse was originally the front range light, moved thrice, in 1910 and in 1943, then again in 1970, when it became the rear range. It now stands along Highway 152 beside the Northport Community Center, at the south end of Northport harbour.
Both front and rear lights were built as skeletal towers and enclosed in 1903. The 1943 move was occasioned by changes in the alignment of the channel caused by winter storms.
Recently designated a heritage lighthouse by Parks Canada, the Northport Rear Range lighthouse has been acquired by the community of Northport, to be maintained as a heritage property. The Summerside Journal-Pioneer ran a story on the lighthouse and its acquisition in July of 2015. Read it below.
Northport Council acquiring
rear range property
Eric McCarthy | Jul 23, 2015
NORTHPORT -- There will be no canteen or tourist shop setting up in the Northport Rear Range.
The structure is too small to accommodate such a venture suggests Paula Foley, administrator for the Northport Community Council.
The Northport Rear Range was one of seven P.E.I. lighthouses recently designated as heritage lighthouses by Parks Canada. It’s the only one in Prince County granted the designation.
This follows a public petition period between May 29, 2010 and May 29, 2012 during which Canadians nominated hundreds of lighthouses from coast-to-coast, including 34 in P.E.I., for designation under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act.
Joining Northport were the Brighton Beach front range in Charlottetown, Cape Bear in Murray Harbour, Point Prim, Panmure Head in Montague, Cape Tryon at Park Corner and Covehead Harbour.
Foley said the Northport Community Council will maintain the structure.
“The community wants it,” Foley said. “Not every community has a lighthouse.”
Council, Foley said, is in process of taking over ownership of the property. The federal government will cover the cost of having the building painted one last time before the community takes over that responsibility.
It makes sense for council to take over the property, she said, noting it is located right beside the community centre, on the same shorefront lot, and is a good reference point when giving visitors directions to the community center.
“It adds to the beauty of the harbour,” she acknowledged.
From the Summerside Journal-Pioneer