On solid ground
Gabarus Lighthouse moved to safer spot
Janet McGillen will sleep soundly through the night now that her night light is on safer ground.
That light is actually the Gabarus Lighthouse and McGillen and other community members watched as the 125-year-old community landmark was inched away from its precarious cliffside location to safer ground on Friday.
“In one rain storm we lost five feet to bring it down to seven feet ( from the edge), so every time it rained we woke up and watched,” said the chair of the Gabarus Lightkeepers Society and next-door neighbour of the lighthouse.
The lighthouse had been sitting on land that’s been eroding into the ocean.
After three years of lobbying, fundraising and a contest win, the lighthouse was moved 40 feet back from the cliff on Friday in an operation that stretched out the length of the entire day.
T&J Demeyere Properties carried out the move, using a combination of heavy equipment, rails and even dish detergent to ensure a smooth slide for the 22 tonne structure from cliffside to a new frost wall.
“The most difficult part is the weight on the top and the way that it is sitting because it was off level by ten inches on the low side when we started,” said Jim Demeyre, owner of Demeyere Properties.
“We were sneaking a little bit coming up because we put the rails on a bit of an angle, so we were jacking as we were coming to make it so we wouldn’t have to lift so high.”
A small portion of the move happened late Thursday before the job was completed on Friday.
The contractor had to factor in high winds and soft ground throughout the process. They were successful, though, and the light now sits on its new base with only some renovation and restoration still to come next week.
“It means a lot and not just to this community,” said Ken Sherwood, who was among the happy residents watching the move.
“We have family and friends away that have been following this story. This is a great day.”
Joan Mills, a summer resident of Gabarus the past 40 years, said the moving operation on Friday was an act of preserving the past for residents of the village.
“I have a great grandson who is nine months old and he is the youngest resident of Gabarus,” she said. “We are preserving it for him.”
Tim Menk said the lighthouse means everything to people whose roots in Gabarus trace back more than 200 years. And for him, seeing the lighthouse moved brought forth many emotions.
“It’s a feeling of accomplishment, that you’ve saved something that is worth saving and that you’ve done it as part of a community effort,” he said.
McGillen was also feeling a sense of accomplishment after facing some barriers and challenges to saving the lighthouse over the past three years.
She’s glad their committee kept ‘plugging away,’ though, with the encouragement from the community who kept telling them to keep going.’
“We kind of look at it as being the heart of the community,” she said.
“Everybody looks to see that the light is on and they look for it when they are driving home or when they are sailing home from fishing trips. Our community depends on the light to find the harbour. It just keeps us all anchored here.”