Nova Scotia is the province at the extreme southeastern corner of Canada. The southern and eastern parts of the province lie on a peninsula facing the Atlantic to the east and the Bay of Fundy to the west. To the north the peninsula is joined to the rest of Canada by an isthmus that separates the Bay of Fundy on the south from Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north. Cape Breton Island lies to the northeast, separated from the main part of the province by the narrow Strait of Canso. For its size Nova Scotia has an extraordinarily long coastline and a very large number of lighthouses, roughly 170 in all. The Directory covers these lighthouses on five pages. This page includes lighthouses of the Northumberland Strait coast in the counties of Cumberland, Pictou, and Antigonish. (Cumberland spans the isthmus and has lighthouses on both coasts. Cumberland County lighthouses on the Bay of Fundy and Minas Basin are listed on the Western Nova Scotia page.) Rip Irwin's book, Lighthouses and Lights of Nova Scotia (Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 2011) is an essential reference for understanding these lighthouses. Aids to navigation in Canada are maintained by the Canadian Coast Guard. In 2008, Parliament passed the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act to designate and protect historic lighthouses. In 2010, the Coast Guard declared the great majority of lighthouses to be surplus, and there is fear that this may lead to the disposal and possible destruction of many lighthouses. CCG numbers are from the Atlantic Coast volume of the List of Lights, Buoys, and Fog Signals of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from Volume H of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 110.
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![]() Mullins Point Range Rear Light, North Wallace, August 2011 Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Dennis Jarvis |
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![]() Pictou Harbour Range Front Light, Pictou Harbour, June 2008 photo copyright Charles Bash; used by permission |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Eastern Prince Edward Island | East: Cape Breton Island | South: Western Nova Scotia | West: Northern New Brunswick
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 18, 2002. Checked and revised February 6, 2019. Lighthouses: 18. Site copyright 2019 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.