Gilberts Cove Lighthouse

This is a square keeper's house painted white with the lighthouse lantern atop the roof. Whereas most lighthouse keepers lived separately from the light itself, the lighthouse keeper and family lived in this lighthouse for over 50 years. It is perched upon a small point of land 15 feet above high water level. The lighthouse is one of only three of this type left in Nova Scotia. Today it's a scenic stop on the Evangeline Trail self-drive, near the Acadian Shores along St. Mary's Bay — see our guide for European visitors for ferry and flight logistics to this corner of the province.

The light tower with its cat walk, 29 feet above the base of the solidly built house, has inside steep-stair accessibility. Painted wooden floors and interior walls add to the building's sturdy and residential character.

As early as 1783 there was shipping and trade activity into Port Gilbert by the first Loyalist settlers, Col. Thomas Gilbert, his three sons and their families. The movement of mostly wood products is reported from the early 1800's into the early part of the 20th century. This commerce saw many small schooners, called coasters, most built locally, travelling up and down the bay and into Gilbert's Cove, Plympton, Barton and the head of the bay. "The Lighthouse was built in 1904, when the vessel captains running up the St. Mary's Bay greatly appreciate the light, which they say should have been erected at least twenty years ago." (quoted from report in The Digby Weekly Courier, August 26, 1904).