THUNDER BAY – Students at Hammarskjold High School have left a lighthouse legacy along the shores of Lake Superior.
The teens, who graduated last spring, built replicas of the Shaganash Island Lighthouse, which now serve as bookends for the former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Alexander Henry, which opened to the public as a floating museum this past summer at the Pool 6 wharf.
Lou Kok, said the students each year look for a community project to take part in, and the lighthouses were a great way to test their skills, while also providing the city with another attraction.
Kok said he was approached by the Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior to tackle the project as a way to preserve the history of the region’s lighthouses, which include the Thunder Bay Main Light in the harbour, Trowbridge Island Lighthouse and Porphyry Island Lighthouse, in addition to the No. 10 Lighthouse on Shaganash Island.
“They came to use because they were looking at promoting and preserving the lighthouses of Lake Superior,” Kok said. “They needed to generate some interest and let the public be aware of what these lighthouses encompass and what they meant.
“It’s pretty hard to bring a lighthouse that’s out on Black Bay or Shesheeb Bay and have the public really get the impression of what they were and what they meant to north shore communities or the lake community. So they asked us to do a replica.”
Paul Capon, an executive with the lighthouse group, on Wednesday presented this year’s construction students with a plaque honouring the work of their predecessors, and said it’s a great way to keep the lighthouses front and centre, he added.
“I think it’s important to keep those memories alive, to show the history of lighthouses on the north shore, to show structures that have been built over the years as beacons for ships and navigational aids,” Capon said. “The fact that these lighthouses have been for such a long period of time and provided a sense of safety and harbour refuge for people on ships for the last 100-plus years, I think there’s a sense of continuity and a sense of peace at seeing these beacons.”
The finished lighthouse replicas are remarkable, Capon said.
“We are so pleased with the quality of the workmanship, by the model themselves and its durability. It was just excellent, the fact they actually have a light in them, there’s metal-working that was done and the construction quality was just as good as the original.”
The Alexander Henry is open to the public from mid-May until the end of September.
