Lion's Head Lighthouse
Located on Isthmus Bay - Bruce Peninsula

LIGHTHOUSES AT LION'S HEAD

Lion's Head has always had bad luck with its lighthouses. Founded in 1871, this village on Isthmus Bay got its first navigational aid in 1903 when a square lantern with a red light was hoisted on a pole five metres high on the outer breakwater.

In 1911, a square tapered light tower was erected at the end of the Lion's Head pier. It was knocked over by wind and waver in less that a year.

No sooner it was restored, that the lighthouse was driven onto the nearby beach in hurricane-force winds of the Great Storm of 1913. Moved back from the end of the pier, the salvage lighthouse was securely anchored in place. But this did not protect it from the fire that ravaged it in 1933. Once again repaired, the Lion's Head lighthouse served the marine community faithfully until May, 1969. That spring, the Canadian Coast Guard dismantled the tower, took it to the local landfill site and burned it.

As the result of a public outcry, students at the Bruce Peninsula District School, under the direction of teacher Brian Swanton and with funds from the Lion's Head Rotary Club, built a replica in 1984. Today, the students' home built lighthouse serves as an official Coast Guard navigational aid, guiding mariners into Lion's Head's busy harbour.

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