Belliveau Cove lighthouse wharf rocks up for the future

Giant boulders are replacing a wooden wharf at Belliveau Cove this month, in hopes that future repairs will not be required.

Access to the popular, peppers-haker-style lighthouse, located at the end of the wharf and first lit in 1889, will still be possible.

The north wharf sustained considerable damage during high winds and storm surge on Feb. 7.

The wharf is owned by the Municipality of Clare and the project cost is mostly covered under its insurance policy. The total cost is $431,584 (not including the lighthouse, benches, and damage to the southern wharf).

Of this amount, insurance is covering $325,776. A funding application in the amount of $52,904 was also submitted to the Nova Scotia Flood Risk Infrastructure Investment Program. As per the program criteria, the municipality must match the contribution ($52,904).

This isn't the first damage the wharf has received over the years.

Gary Theriault, a founding member of the Belliveau Cove Development Commission (BCDC), which was launched in 1976, said a high tide surge during that year's Groundhog Day storm woke people up to the danger of future damage. Weather events are accelerating now, becoming more frequent and fiercer, as indicated by the February gale.

“That wind and high-water storm in February damaged the north wall so bad that we were about to lose the lighthouse. We pulled it before losing it and it's been replaced on the wharf temporarily so that repairs can be done and then it will be reestablished,” Theriault said.

The wharf has also been repaired after numerous years of rotting timber so this time BCDC went to the municipality.

“It's not a wharf that was being used for boats very much, more as a breakwater to protect the other wharf and boats where they tie up,” he said.

The lighthouse will now remain stable and the wharf on the south wharf will be protected indefinitely,” said Theriault.

He described the north wharf as playing an important role in protecting the Belliveau Cove village buildings and the main road.

He noted that although some may be disappointed to see the wooden wharf replaced with armour stone, the tidal phenomena, does not work well for people who tie up their recreational boats.