Cape Pine Lighthouse National Historic Site of Canada

Cape Pine Lighthouse was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1974 because:

• it was the first landfall light built on the dangerous south coast of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula to guide shipping through the Cabot Straight to the St. Lawrence River;
• it is one of the oldest lighthouses in Canada, and;
• it was the first application in Newfoundland of the technology using prefabricated cast-iron components in the construction of lighthouse towers.

The heritage value of this site resides in the physical presence of the lighthouse as witness to the achievement of early pre-fabrication, transportation and construction on a rugged site. Built in 1851 to guide trans-Atlantic shipping, the Cape Pine Lighthouse also illustrates the early improvement of aids to navigation on the east coast of Canada. The lighthouse was the first of a series of prefabricated iron structures erected in Newfoundland in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Designed by Alexander Gordon, it represents a pioneering and carefully executed instance of maritime design and engineering in Canada.