Cape Roseway Lighthouse

Cape Roseway on McNutt's Island, N.S. is the site of an early-established light (1788) marking the entrance to Shelburne Harbour. The first lighthouse built at Cape Roseway in 1788 was preceded in Canada by only two others - one at Louisbourg (1733) and another at Sambro island (1758) near Halifax. Like them, the 92-foot octagonal Cape Roseway lighthouse was built with locally cut stone in "the old world style"The settlement of Shelburne was the reason a light was established here. In the inner reaches of an excellent and sizable harbour rivaling the one at Halifax, the town in 1783 had quickly (but only briefly) become the largest urban centre in British North America.

It had been regarded as a potential place for British development as early as 1720 and was especially considered after the expulsion of the Acadians from the area in 1755. Some English-speakers from the pre-revolutionary colonies to the south did move in during the 1760s and 1670s under the leadership of speculator/entrepreneur, Alexander McNutt, but it was not until 1783 that the town began to flourish. In that year, about 16,000 United Empire Loyalists landed here and built thousands of houses and commercial establishments.

Governor Wentworth in Halifax considered Shelburne Harbour of great consequence to the safety and supply of Halifax and a safe retreat in the hurricane months for the fleets employed in the West Indies. He also saw it as peculiarly well-adapted for all naval operations necessary for defense of or offense on the east coast of America.