Lighthouse obsession - Charlottetown, Canada
Charlottetown, Canada
Today we were off to explore the popular east coast of Prince Edward Island (PEI). The PEI tourism board had cleverly created a detailed brochure and map which divided their small island into a number of different regions, each with specific scenic drives. It made deciding what to do whilst on the island very easy. After surviving a hectic but free breakfast(which included tasty banana bread) in the quaint but pokey kitchen which was filled with what seemed like every guest in the hostel, we headed out for the day. Now the east coast scenic drive literally followed every inch of the coastline east of Charlottetown but according to the lady at the tourism office this drive should only take a total of 6 hours. We decided that we didnt need to explore the lower half of the eastern drive as we had already visited Point Prim lighthouse and Wood Island Provincial Park the previous day, and there were no other specific points of interest in this area that we had been made aware of. So we started our scenic drive but cutting across the island from Charlottetown to the East Coast seaside town of Georgetown. Georgetown sits on the mouth of Brudenell River at Cardigan Bay and was established as a settlement in Kings County, or Royalty as it use to be known back then, in 1768. The settlement's street pattern was only surveyed at this time and building did not commence until around the 1830s. By the 1870s Georgetown was linked to the capital Charlottetown and the town of Summerside by way of the Prince Edward Island railway opening up the opportunity for greater industry in the area. Due to Georgetown having the Island's only deep water port which was largely ice free until late into winter (pre Canso causeway which has altered sea ice patterns), the town developed into an important port and it acquired a dedicated steamship service to the mainland port of Pictou, Nova Scotia with its vital railway connections to the rest of Canada. Industry in Georgetown diversified in the 20th century with the development of the Island's only shipyard, East Isle Shipyard, and the introduction of the Island's largest saw mill. Georgetown is not the bustling industrial town it was during the 1900s but rather a sleepy, quaint and charming village for its 693 residents. Georgetown still attracts tourists such as ourselves, to admire some of the original buildings from the late 1800s or perhaps to catch a show at the famous King's playhouse during the summer months. The King's playhouse was originally built in 1897 as a community centre and town hall but is now the art and cultural centre for Eastern PEI. Unfortunately, in February 1983 the original building was destroyed by fire during a severe storm. Thankfully a group of dedicated residents rallied together and the building was reconstructed back to its original form by 1987. Georgetown being the Capital of the county has the priveledge of hosting the county court house, a building considered to have some of the best masonry craftmanship of the Island. The courthouse was built in 1897 from designs by the renowned Island architect William Critchlow Harris.The reddish colour of the stone can be attributed to the local sandstone but the contrasting white stones were quarried and transported over from Nova Scotia. The building was originally designed to face in the opposite direction however during the construction the plans were misinterpreted so the building has remained the wrong way ever since. Another building we couldnt help but notice due to its large tower rising above the rooftops, was the Holy Trinity Anglican Church. This was Georgetown's first church built in 1839 and to this day still features most of the beautiful, original stained glass windows. The exterior looked a little run down and the building was definately in need of some TLC. Hopefully the same enthusiasm in reconstructing the playhouse will be shown to an eventual renovation of this potentially stunning historical church. A more recent addition to Georgetown is the Cenotaph AA Memorial Gardens. This beautifully manicured and landscaped garden sits snuggly between the courthouse and the playhouse and provides lovely views of the Holy Trinity Church tower. The focal point of the park is the cenotaph which pays tribute to those people who have died fighting for Canada, however the gardens are also simply a beautiful community space for individuals and families to enjoy some peaceful time outdoors. We left Georgetown satisfied that we had gotten a good feel of the town, its people and its beginnings, and proceeded north along the winding coastal road passing many more quaint seaside villages along the way. We felt like the only people on the island as very few cars had passed us on the narrow and pot hole filled roads. We laughed about how our car rental policy had stipulated not to go off road but that they clearly hadnt taken into consideration PEI roads when they made these terms. We thought that of all roads on the island to keep well maintained, that the coastal drive roads would be the ones to focus on. Didnt bother us..made the trip that little more adventurous but we were surely glad we werent driving the GTI. We made a brief stop at Spry point, a small headland protruding into Boughton Bay( the next bay along as you head north), to get another magnificent view back along the red rugged coastline. Some of the shore was a dark sandy colour but the cliffs and soil were at times a deep copper red, like the red you find in our Red Centre. It was crazy...it was such a unique feature of this surprisingly rich and diverse island. As we entered Spry point we drove past a group of fishing huts with their crayfish traps stacked precariously along their exterior walls like a challenging game of jenga. There was not a soul to be seen which gave the little cove a slightly eerie feel, especially since it was overcast and cloudy as well, but we lapped up the serenity. After soaking up the scenery we continued along the coastal road on our way to Souris for lunch. We passed a turn off for a town called New Zealand which provided some material for our own private comedy routines. By noon we were in Souris and our bellies were grateful. Before seeking out a place to eat we stopped by the Souris Historical lighthouse. This lighthouse, constructed of wood, was built in 1880 on what is known as Knight's Point. Unfortunately, being off season the lighthouse was closed preventing us from climbing to the lantern room for panoramic views of the bay and the town of Souris. Fortunately, the lighthouse isnt surrounded by fencing so despite not being able to go inside we were still able to get our postcard perfect lighthouse pictures. Souris is a slightly bigger fishing town and the departure port for the Ferry to Iles de la Madeleine, apparently a favoured holiday destination of the Quebecois (aka Quebecians as I like to still call them). Souris was founded in 1727 by the Acadians who gave the name Souris, meaning mousetown in french, due to their experiences with several plagues of field mice between 1720 to 1760. The area of Souris is most well known for its amazing beaches and its potato farms (majority of PEI potato farms in this area). We didnt venture far into the town itself as we were mainly interested in seeing the lighthouse and eating at a cafe along the harbour, so we missed out of seeing some well restored historical buildings such as the Matthew MacLean Building (the now tourist info centre, previously a general store), Souris customs house and the post office. We had to skip something with time getting away from us and there still being so much to see and well, lunch was never going to the sacrificed in this situation. After a leisurely lunch we jumped back in the car and headed towards Basin Head. Basin Head is known for its 'whistling sand', sand that apparently makes a gentle whistling noise as you walk along it (as the name implies). We arrived at Basin Head carpark and noted a few cars in the carpark...so apparently we arent alone of this coastal drive as we thought. We walked down towards the beach and crossed a small bridge over a channel where the river joined the sea. On crossing the bridge it was interesting to see the contrast in landscape. On one side there was the deep red soil with rich green shrubbery and on the other side there was pale yellow, almost white sand with clumps of light green reeds sprouting through the dunes. Along the boardwalk as you approached the start of the sand there was a haphazard line of shoes awaiting their owner's return. Although desolate it wasnt quiet as the sea crashed rhythmically onto the shore, each wave tracing a new outline on the wet sand. Although tempted to walk barefoot in the sand we thought better of it as we had nothing to clean our feet with once we were done. We walked across the sand but we could not hear any whistling, perhaps an occasional squelsh between the sound of the waves crashing but no whistling songs. We walked further down towards the wetter sand thinking perhaps this influenced the whistling sound. No...no change that we could hear. What we did observe though was as we placed our feet on the wet sand you could almost witness ripples of bubbles radiating away from our feet...something we hadnt noticed before when walking on the sand in Australia. Perhaps if the seas were calmer and the sound of the waves less noisy than we may have heard the whistling sound when we wintessed the rippling bubbles in the sand. Who knows??. We walked along the beach for the next 15 minutes or so and watched the waves roll in. As we were leaving another older couple arrived keen to hear the whistling sand. We freely handed over our observations from our experience which didnt deter them from proceeding forward onto the sand. As we walked back to the carpark we peered back over our shoulder and saw the elderly couple walking hand in hand half bent over with their ears towards the ground. We laughed to ourselves knowing that this is what we would have looked like no more than 20 mins before...well the younger and better looking version anyway. We were back in the car and almost at the highlight of the East Coast scenic drive, the East Point lighthouse. According to all reports this lighthouse was still open to the public which means we were going to have the opportunity to climb the lighthouse to the lantern room. Within the hour we were there and what an impressive sight, this white wooden octagonal tower with red trim rose defiantly 64 feet in the air. This lighthouse was built in 1867 from local black spruce timber in the pre confederation style. After confederation lighthouses were built with only 4 sides rather than in the octagonal shape as it was a much smaller and cheaper building to construct. This lighthouse is famous for a few reasons, one is that it has been moved twice and still remains after all this time, and two because it was the second lighthouse to receive a distress signal from the titantic after Cape Bear lighthouse. Why was the lighthouse moved you asked? Well in 1882 the HMS Phoenix ran aground off East point reef during a hurricane and the Captain, Hubert Grenfell was heavily reprimanded as they believed this incident was due to his negligence. However, years later he was pardoned when it was established that the accident was not due to navigational error but rather errors in the navigational charts, including the location of the lighthouse on the charts, as the Captain had said. So instead of simply changing the charts, in 1885 they moved the lighthouse to where the charts said it should be. In 1908 the lighthouse was moved again but this time it was due to issues with erosion and to facilitate the building of the foghorn building. The lighthouse has had 5 keepers since 1867 up until 1989. Behind the lighthouse there are two cottages which to this day still house family members of the last two keeper's of the lighthouse. As you climb the lighthouse you enter a series of different exhibits relating to the lighthouse's history. On the second floor you can see the different types of lenses used in the lantern as well as faint signatures on the walls of some of the survivors from that 1882 shipwreck, found during renovations of the lighthouse. On the third floor the room has been furnished and arranged to depict the typical lifestyle and housing of a lighthouse keeper in the 1800s, with the oil lamp, wooden clothing trunk, antique stove and straw mattress. On the fourth floor is where the weights were raised or lowered in order to rotate the lantern. In the early days of use the lighthouse required 2 to 3 gallons of whale oil to run the energy for the rotation of the lantern. Gradually coal and kerosene were introduced and then electricity in 1957. This room was filled with different telecommunication devices including a Marconi radio which is the type of radio which would have received the titanic distress signal. We climbed to the 5th and final floor which was the lantern room. The light intermittently blinked whilst we walked around the lantern taking in our uninterrupted 360 degree view. We could only see a faint outline of Cape Breton Island to the south due to the cloud and distant rain impeding our view. We could see the rich red cliffs and long golden sandy beaches along the coast, as well as the Ilse de la Madeleine Ferry in the distance. The view was breathtaking and definitely worth the climb up the steep and awkwardly angled steps. Now at the most easterly point along the north coast of PEI we started to head west on our east coast scenic drive. We made a brief stop at Shipwreck cove to see another, less impressive than East Point but still picturesque lighthouse. I admit that during my time in the maritimes i was mildly obsessed with lighthouses and felt the need to see almost all the lighthouses listed on the Island. Clearly that was never going to happen but I was going to give it a real go anyway. Best thing about lighthouses is that they always have the best views at the best locations so even if the lighthouse itself didnt turn out to be that interesting, the view always seemed to make up for it. After ticking another lighthouse off my list we moved on further along the north coast in a westerly direction. Our last major stop on the East coast scenic drive was going to be the stunning Prince Edward Island National Park - Greenwich. This section of the National Park is famous for its beautiful sand dunes which sit alongside dense forest and large ponds which are rich in diverse wildlife. The weather had threatened to rain heavily, maybe even storm all day but we were fortunate to not have experienced anything yet. We popped on our wet weather gear just in case and began our walk. There were three walks to chose from but we chose to do the more renowned Greenwich dunes walk as it exposed us to all three key environments, the forest, the pond and the dunes. Whilst walking along the path nestled between the forest and the coastline which eventually led us to the start of our hike, I spotted in the distance something jumping low in the grass. I nudged Ro silently which he knew meant I had spotted some wildlife. Ro came to a quick stop and then i whispered...i think there is a rabbit up ahead...we slowly edged closer and sure enough there was a fluffy creature with long ears nibbling the grass. After further inspection of the face and ears I corrected my initial guess and recognised that we had stumbled upon a wild hare. The camera clicked away frantically as we chronicled the hare eating. We kept nudging closer to the hare ever so slowly which would cause the hare to always pause momentarily to assess the level of danger, and then he would nussle his head back down in the grass and go on eating. Eventually he felt the danger was too much and he hopped away effortlessly into the dense bushes. This was our cue to keep moving and explore the dunes. We commenced the 2.5km return hike by entering the forest via a smooth gravel path. The lush open forest was buzzing with life as you could hear the scurrying or screeching of squirrels or the songs of many different varieties of birds. We studied the interpretive displays trying hard to equip ourselves with the necessary skills to identify any wildlife that happened to cross our paths. We learnt how to tell the difference between a spruce and fir tree as well. For future reference, if the needles of the tree are round and roll easily between your fingers then it is a spruce tree but it the needles are flat to touch then it is a fir. Eventually the gravel path soon transformed into a well constructed wooden boardwalk and the forest began to open up further. Within a few 100 meters the forest had disappeared and we were now walking over a floating wooden boardwalk over a huge pond, known as Bowley Pond. Thousands of tall, thin reeds in clusters had replaced the strong and sturdy spruce and firmtrees. The low lying vegetation allowed us expanisve views across the pond and towards the sand dunes in the distance. We had read that northern harriers and mongoose were residents of the pond so we had our eyes peeled and senses primed. We walked drunkenly across the constantly moving floating boardwalk towards the sand dunes on the opposite side of the pond. We left the boardwalk and climbed a small sandy hill which lead us directly to the beach. The beach was sensational and reminded us of home. Long stretches of almost white but rather a light yellow sand as far as your eyes could see, with tuffs of bright pale green beach grass interspersed randomly along the shoreline. It was impossible to take a bad picture. We walked a short distance along the beach to a lookout point where we could observe the parabolic dunes. We got our obligatory photos and then put the cameras away so we could then spend a few moments just soaking it all in..where we were, what we were looking at, the sounds, the smells...how lucky we were in that moment. After 15 minutes or so we slowly started to head back along the trail as we were mindful of the time. On our way back along the floating boardwalk we saw a large bird swoop along the water and land into the reeds. It was graceful with a large wingspan and a small tailored hawk like head...could it have been a northern harrier?....we really thought so but we never quite got close enough to confirm it for sure. We didnt spot anymore wildlife for the remainder of the walk which was fine, we were satisfied with our snowshoe hare and a potential bird of prey sighting. It was late afternoon but too early to return to Charlottetown and definately too early to eat (although im sure Ro would have disagreed since he wants to eat all the time) so we decided to finish driving the east coast scenic route and then head down towards the south coast to see Argyle sands Provincial Park and the Rocky Point lighthouses. The remainder of the East Coast scenic drive was probably some of the most beautiful. We passed through a series of small fishing villages such as St Peters, which had picturesque coves filled with various boats surrounded by roads lined with well restored historical buildings in all shapes and sizes. You could invisage the fishing village bussling during its hey day, as well as appreciate the appeal of the modern day tranquility in this small town. We negotiated PEI's highways and managed to make our way successfully to the south in the Red Shore region of the Island. Most of the island as far as we could see, had this vibrant terracotta red soil but apparently it is along the south coast where you are provided with the best views of the craggy, rugged red cliffs juxtapoxed against the vibrant blue sea. We had met a lady on the ferry over to PEI who had specifically suggested we visit the Argyle Sands Provincial Park for the best views of the red shores, so we took her advice and headed straight there. Unfortunately the park was closed so we parked the car on the side of the road and walked through the park towards the coastline. We reached the edge of the island and popped our heads over the edge to get a glimpse of this spectacular red coastline. Woah...we had underestimated how amazing these red cliffs would be. The sun was beginning to set which resulted in the cliffs looking like they had been set alight. The red was a richer and brighter colour which contrasted nicely against the light green grass that lined the cliffs. The water had lost its vibrant blue complexion as the sun was too low at this time of day but it enhanced our view as the tide was high and it was gently lapping at the cliffs, slowly carving away more detailed patterns in the wall. It may seem silly to read about but it was a sight to see and a unique sight at that. It was I imagined like having Uluru next to the sea at sunset. Just spectacular. We couldnt stay too long to enjoy the view as we still had one more sight to see before the sun set and our day was done... The Rocky Point Lighthouses. Now whilst waiting for the ferry to PEI i scoured all the tourist brochures and found a PEI magazine which had a dedicated section on their famous lighthouses. In this section were some magnificient photos of the lighthouses you could see around PEI and one of my favourite panoramics was of the Rocky Point Lighthouse. I wanted that photo...it was simply stunning. So we followed the south coast east until we came to rocky point. We followed a dirt track down to the end of a headland and found the lighthouse we had been looking for. I surveyed the surroundings but i just couldnt figure out how to get the photo I had seen. From what I could tell I would have to climb down the cliff and sit on a rock in the water to get that shot...but even then it seemed i would be too low....how to get over to the shoreline on the other cliff? No idea. I disappointedly took a few nice but not as satisfying photos of the lighthouse and then we left. On the way back down the dirt road we saw a turn off for a National Historical Site, Port-La-Joye Fort Amherst. We had no idea what this place was so we thought we would take 10 minutes and go and find out. We followed the winding road towards the carpark and as we neared closer and closer it dawned on me that the cliffs along this park are likely to look back on the Rocky Point Lighthouse. Wooohoooo. I get to take the money shot. To this day I still dont know what blah di blah Fort Amherst is all about cause i spent all my time along the shoreline looking back at Rocky Point lighthouse getting the photo I had seen in the magazine in the difficult dusk light. Whilst standing on the shore we saw a Holland America ship cruise past us and head out to sea. They never appear to be going very fast when you see them far out at sea but when this ship cruised passed us you could see the power and speed of the ship and there was no denying what an engineering marvel these cruise ships are. Before leaving Fort Amherst we did survey the grounds and there was no building to inspect or explore. We did briefly scan an interpretive display which from memory (and with a little help from google) informed us that this National Historical site is actually the ruins of the first permanent European Settlement on Prince Edward Island. The main purpose of the site since there are no significant fortifications remaining, is to commemorate the historical significance of this region and specifically, this particular spot in PEI. I would have to agree that this was a pretty significant place. This wrapped up our sight seeing for the day. The sun had almost completely set and it was time to head home...well to dinner and then home. We visited the Merchants Pub for dinner where Ro tucked into some tasty crab cakes and veggies whilst I enjoyed a bowl of famous PEI mussels. We headed home straight after dinner as we were simply exhausted from such a long day sightseeing and driving. To top off an already amazing day we came back to our room to find that 3 roomies had checked out and only one other guy (who we knew didnt snore) in addition to us remained. Bliss...no need to sleep with ear plugs and a mask....nothing like travelling to remind you to always appreciate the small things.