Tag Archives: Point Atkinson

Book – Lighthouses of North America – Beacons from Coast to Coast

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Lighthouses of North America – Beacons from Coast to Coast

The majority of lighthouses shown in this book are American, but as a friend of mine wrote:

I received a lighthouse book for Christmas – from an ex -lighthouse keeper and I groaned when I opened the parcel. “Oh yes, forty photos of Portland bloody Head I suppose.”  No, well yes, a couple, but Canadian lights and British Columbia lights –  4 pages on West Vancouver’s Pt. Atkinson, plus photo of Cape Mudge, and for comic relief Brockton Point (Stanley Park). – thanks JDR

So, not all bad news. The book is not coffee table format so it will fit easily on your bookshelf.

9781770852495Lighthouses of North America – Beacons from Coast to Coast

by Sylke Jackson and published by Firefly Books

320 pages, 8 1/2″ X 11″ X 1″
300 color photos, resources, index
EAN: 9781770852495
ISBN: [ 1770852492 ]
plastic-laminated hardcover
$35.00 CDN / $35.00 US Continue reading Book – Lighthouses of North America – Beacons from Coast to Coast →

Reprint – A Light on the Past

Adult Memories, Automation, British Columbia, Coast Guard, Foghorns, History, Information, Keepers, Light, Lighthouses, Reprint, Stories, Visitors, Women, , , , , , , ,

A light on the past

with permission from Rosalind Duane, North Shore News, August 05, 2012

Elaine Graham remains the only resident among the historical buildings at Point Atkinson Lighthouse. Photograph by: NEWS photo, Lisa King

ELAINE Graham was raised in the slums of London, far from the multi-hued green of nature.

“There was nothing on my street when I was growing up,” she recalls. “I had lots of play-friends, loads of kids to play with, but there wasn’t even a geranium on a windowsill.”

Many years later, Graham is now surrounded by 75 hectares of the largest first-growth stand of coastal-elevation trees in the Lower Mainland. Her home is nestled among the remaining structures at the base of Point Atkinson Lighthouse, which stands on a craggy promontory at the edge of Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver.

She has spent half her life here, and is eager to tell the story of her neck of the woods.

Graham moved to the Point Atkinson Lighthouse station with her husband Donald and two young sons in 1980. Donald became the last of the lighthouse keepers at the site (along with senior keeper Gerry Watson) when the lighthouse was automated in 1996.

The Grahams stayed on in one of the two keeper’s houses, she as a park attendant and he as a groundskeeper. Continue reading Reprint – A Light on the Past →

A Language Problem

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– story from Candy-Lea Chickite

My grandmother loved to tell this one to me. I think she may have had the wrong name of the lighthouse keeper. She said it was her father, or maybe she said her father told her the story – I was young when I heard it but I think it may have been a Mr. Grafton who was the fellow involved. I believe the story is true . . .  (a Thomas Grafton was on Point Atkinson lighthouse from 1889 – 1910 and his dates are right for this story – JC)

Back before the days of radios, when a ship entered the Vancouver Harbour they would use a megaphone and call in the name of their ship to the lighthouse at Point Atkinson. 

One pitch black evening a horn sounded, the keeper hailed his welcome and asked the vessel to identify itself. 

“Wat-a-matta Maru” was the echoed reply in a heavily accented Oriental voice. 

“I say again, what is the name of your vessel?” hollered the keeper enunciating each work emphatically. 

“Wat-a-matta Maru!” 

“This is the Point Atkinson lighthouse, and I DEMAND you identify your vessel before entering the harbour!” replied the keeper of the light. 

Again, “Wat-a-matta Maru!” was the return call. 

Incensed now, the lighthouse keeper yelled back, “There’s NOTHING the matter with me, WHAT the HELL’s the matter with YOU!” 


Heritage Lighthouses

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From Parks Canada website on Heritage Lighthouses.

“In May of 2008, Canada adopted a new law that will protect heritage lighthouses, the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act . It came into force on May 29, 2010. Given its expertise in heritage conservation, Parks Canada was assigned responsibility for the implementation of the Act.”

 

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From Heritage BC website:

“Under the federal Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act Canadians can now nominate lighthouses for designation and protection.  There is only a two-year window for the nomination process, however, until May 29, 2012.  Nominations will be considered by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.”

“So far, 56 lighthouses have been nominated, but only three from B.C.:  Point Atkinson, Sisters Islets and Sheringham Point.”

“Heritage BC and the provincial Heritage Branch have provided the federal Heritage Lighthouse Program with a list of community organizations and local governments that may have an interest in the 35 B.C. lighthouses identified by Parks Canada as having nomination potential.  Parks Canada is writing to these organizations and governments to inform them about the nominations process, and to discover if there is an interest in participating in information sessions.  Some sessions have already been held in the Maritimes and more may be scheduled on the west coast in September, if the level of interest warrants.”

For more information, contact Rick Goodacre
rgoodacre@heritagebc.ca

PDF letter LighthouseDesignation_2011-06-29 to Rick Goodacre from Heritage Canada

In answer to the above letter The Land Conservancy of BC wrote:

“Thanks for the reminder and update on this Rick.  The Land Conservancy of BC will be moving forward with a number of nominations in the coming weeks, and we are prepared to help coordinate a holistic approach to figuring out what we can/should be doing with respect to Lighthouse protection over the longer term.  That includes both the nomination process and then the much more detailed and involved process of taking on responsibility for those lighthouses that the Government will be declaring surplus (which is a lot).”

“At this stage, we want to gather information about who is interested in any specific Lighthouse(s).  If your organization, your community or your municipality has a specific interest in protecting the future of a Lighthouse in BC would you please get in touch with us.  Either contact myself or Deborah Hudson at:  ifawcett@conservancy.bc.ca   or  dhudson@conservancy.bc.ca , or call at (250) 479-8053.”

 Thanks everyone,

Ian Fawcett
Deputy Executive Director, TLC
Ph:   (250) 479-8053 or (250) 888-1608
Fax:  (250) 744-2251

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Heritage Lighthouse Program 
(819) 934-9096
www.parkscanada.gc.ca

(cached snapshot of the Parks Canada website here)

(cached snapshot of the BC Heritage website here)