Qualla: Wood Islands Lighthouse

Wood Islands Lighthouse: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CP Hoffman from Washington, DC, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0. The first contractor quit. Archibald MacKay of New Brunswick signed on to build a lighthouse at Wood Islands in 1875, made little progress, and abandoned the job entirely. It fell to Donald MacMillan, a local master carpenter who understood both the red sandstone coastline and the urgency of the work, to finish what MacKay could not. By the autumn of 1876, a white-shingled tower topped with a red iron lantern stood on the southeastern shore of Prince Edward Island, its beam sweeping across the Northumberland Strait for the first time on November 1 of that year.

Read more: Wood Islands Lighthouse on Qualla

Image: CP Hoffman from Washington, DC, United States | CC BY-SA 2.0

Wood Islands Lighthouse: A Light Through Dense Woods

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Films Oiseau de nuit, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reaching the lighthouse in its early decades was nearly as challenging as building it. The tower stood on a small island off the southeast shore, accessible only through dense forest and along the beach from well to the west. Keepers and their families followed a track running so...

Read more: Wood Islands Lighthouse on Qualla

Image: Films Oiseau de nuit | CC BY-SA 4.0

Wood Islands Lighthouse: Sentinel of the Strait

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0. For its first six decades, the lighthouse served as a navigation aid for marine traffic crossing the Northumberland Strait and for fishing boats working the waters around Wood Islands Harbour. That role expanded in 1941, when Northumberland Ferries Limited began seasonal service ...

Read more: Wood Islands Lighthouse on Qualla

Image: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Wood Islands Lighthouse: The Last Keeper's Family

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Markus Gregory, CC BY-SA 3.0. Wood Islands holds a quiet distinction among Prince Edward Island's lighthouses. It was one of the last three on the island to be fully automated, and the very last where a keeper and his family actually lived in the attached dwelling. The three-storey tower and its adjoining res...

Read more: Wood Islands Lighthouse on Qualla

Image: Markus Gregory | CC BY-SA 3.0

Wood Islands Lighthouse: From Keeper's Quarters to Living Museum

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lars Plougmann from United States, CC BY-SA 2.0. Today the lighthouse and residence operate as a museum. Visitors walk through exhibits on the history of Prince Edward Island's lighthouses, the ferry service that has connected the island to Nova Scotia for over eight decades, and the fishing communities that once relied on ligh...

Read more: Wood Islands Lighthouse on Qualla

Image: Lars Plougmann from United States | CC BY-SA 2.0