Gibraltar Point Lighthouse - Toronto, Ontario
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 43° 36.800 W 079° 23.091
17T E 630332 N 4830195
These signs are about 100 feet from the Gibralter Point Lighthouse on Toronto Island...just a few steps from Lakeshore Avenue.
Waymark Code: WMEQ7A
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 06/25/2012
Views: 10
The first sign reads:
"GIBRALTaR POINT LIGHTHOUSE
Though now away from the lake and nestled among the trees, this is the oldest surviving lighthouse on the Great Lakes and the second oldest surviving lighthouse in Canada. It was constructed in 1808-09 when this site was only eight metres from the shifting shoreline of Lake Ontario and exposed to violent lake storms. Guiding sailors into York (now Toronto) harbour, this lighthouse was also used to hoist flags signalling the approach of ships to the town and fort.
At a time when most buildings in York were built with local materials, the lighthouse was constructed of stone from Queenston, near Niagara Falls. Its walls are almost two metres thick at the base, and were raised to their existing height by adding stone from Kingston in 1832. Its wick lamps, which were visible many kilometres out over the lake, were fuelled with hundreds of litres of whale oil per year, then coal oil, until an electric light was installed in 1917. In 1809, the lighthouse was the only major light on York's dark, forested horizon. In 1945, the light was changed from white to green to distinguish it from the bright lights of the modern city."
The second sign continues:
"The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse was once accompanied by the whitewashed clapboard homes of the ligthouse keepers, the first civilian residents on the island. The third and fourth keepers, James Durnan and his son George, maintained the wick lamps and the lighthouse from 1832 to 1905. After 1878, George also rewound - every 48 hours- the new mechanism which revolved the light. Over time, the keepers and their families formed the nucleus of a growing island community.
At the end of the 1957 shipping season, the light of the Gibralter Point Lighthouse was extinguished for the very last time by Dedie Dodds, the last of the keepers. After nearly 150 years of service, the stone lighthouse was replaced by the federal Department of Transport with a fully automated, modern skeletal tower. The ownership of the old lighthouse was transferred to Metropolitan Toronto Parks Department in 1958. The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse has since been restored, the remaining homes of the lighthouse keepers demolished, and the surrounding land integrated into Toronto Island Park.
HERITAGE TORONTO 2008"
The signs also have old photos of the area.
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