Visit a little piece of history in Liverpool
At the furthest point of Main Street, by the Mersey River in Liverpool, is the third oldest lighthouse in Canada.
Visitors to the Fort Point Lighthouse site will find a gift shop featuring local art and literature, a park with picnic tables and a view of the Mersey River and Liverpool Bay. Hungry or thirsty sightseers will find coffee, cold drinks, ice cream, baked goods and even picnic lunches. Anyone interested in having a picnic lunch, should order it about 30 minutes ahead of time.
“We still have the old favourites that they always had here,” said Susan Lane, who manages the site.
One of those old favourites, she says, is the video presentation by Burt MacLeod. MacLeod was the last lighthouse keeper’s son, who grew up in the lighthouse.
“There’s a wonderful video of his account of what it was like to live in the lighthouse,” she said.
Visitors can also climb to the top of the lighthouse to toot the foghorn.
Lane has some ideas for what she would like to see happen at the site as she and her staff continues to manage and run the lighthouse.
“I think that a building is only limited to your imagination,” said Lane.
She would like to have an event with local wineries, breweries and distilleries. She would also like to have live music in the park in August. At Halloween, there is a haunted lighthouse.
Fort Point Lighthouse was built in 1855, and Kate Dexter, an interpreter and host at the site, says there were families living in it until 1950. That’s the year the MacLeods moved out. They had lived in the lighthouse for 14 years.
“The light was automated in 1964, and then it was decommissioned in 1989,” said Dexter.
Lane says the lighthouse has always been important to her because she grew up next to it and it was always boarded up.
“We always wanted to know what was inside,” she said.
Summer isn’t the only time to visit. The site opened June 1 and is not set to close until Oct. 31. The site is slated to open again at Christmas, at which point there will be an event during Christmas on the Mersey.