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By Kelly Anne Loughery of the New Brunswick, Canada Lighthouse Society
We had some pretty exciting news for us back in August (remember, warm days and green grass?). We confirmed that what had previously been listed as an imitation cottage light at Burnt Church is in fact the Old Grand Dune Flats Front Range.
It started in July when I received a calling card that was left for me at the front desk at the SJ Coast Guard base. It was from a couple, Nancy and Don Kohr, who were traveling the province from Ohio (home of 11 lighthouses) visiting our New Brunswick lighthouses. They were using the New Brunswick lighthouse websites to find their way around.
Let’s go to August 3rd when I received an email from Terry and Ferne Kilbride from Burnt Church. The Kohrs had found their way to their Lighthouse cottage and in conversation the Kilbrides learned that their cottage was considered an imitation light. They wanted to set the record straight and provided me with the background on how the lighthouse, which they only knew came from a Miramichi Bay island, came to be at its present location.
Interesting, we had featured, in the last issue of The Beacon, our New Brubn=nswick Lighthouse Society newsletter, the lovely Grand Dune Flats Front Range as our “lost light.” Well, guess what? Sure enough, it was the lighthouse in question. The lighthouse was moved across the ice back in the late 50’s by Murray Anderson and later sold to Ellen Kilbride, Terry’s mother. Sometime after that Ellen removed the verandah railing and enlarged a front window using storm windows that came with the lighthouse. About 10 years ago Terry added a carport with a wing above it. Other than these alterations the structure appears the same as it did in the 1916 vintage photo that we featured in our summer issue of the Beacon and is easily identifiable as the Grand Dune Flats light.
The Kilbrides have maintained the structure in excellent condition and were right to want us to correct any misconceptions about it. We were more than happy to do so as this brings our count to 70 authentic towers remaining in New Brunswick. It is also the only lighthouse of its design in the province (that we know of). How many other “lost lights” are still out there? Who knows, hopefully those individuals who now own them will be as conscientious as the Kilbrides and help us to identify them. For now we are happy to remove Grand Dune from the lost list and to welcome the Kilbrides as new members to the New Brunswick Lighthouse Society. And thanks to Don and Nancy Kohr for getting the ball rolling!
This story appeared in the
January 2003 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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