The nation of Canada was created by the British North America Act in 1867 with Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia as the four original provinces. 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. Cape Breton Island lies to the northeast, separated from the main part of the province by the narrow Strait of Canso. The island faces Northumberland Strait on the southwest, the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the northwest, Cabot Strait to the north, the open Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Strait of Canso and Chedabucto Bay to the south. In the 17th century Nova Scotia was called Acadia as a part of New France, the French empire in North America. Britain conquered Acadia in 1710 during Queen Anne's War and established the Nova Scotia colony in the peninsula. Cape Breton Island continued as a French colony until it was also conquered by Britain in 1758 during the Seven Years War (1756-63). 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 lists lighthouses at the southern end of the peninsula in the counties of Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne, and Yarmouth. Queens County became a regional municipality in 1996; the other three counties are subdivided into district municipalities. Roughly speaking, this covers the coast from St. Margaret's Bay around Cape Sable to Yarmouth Harbour. 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. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. CCG numbers are from the Atlantic Coast volume of the List of Lights, Buoys, and Fog Signals of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 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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Lunenburg County Lighthouses
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Region of Queens Municipality Lighthouses
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![]() Spectacle Island Light, Port Mouton, May 2014 Facebook profile photo by Spectacle Lighthouse Society |
Shelburne County Lighthouses
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Yarmouth County Lighthouses
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Notable faux lighthouses:
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Western Nova Scotia | East: Eastern Nova Scotia |
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted 2002. Checked and revised May 12, 2025. Lighthouses: 40. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.