MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND
The light from Machias Seal Island which lies about 13 miles southwest of Grand Manan, gleamed across the bay for the first time in 1832. Today the light flashes every three seconds.
At one time there were twin lighthouses on Seal Island. The western light tower was near the shore and towards Cutler, Maine. The second tower was located at the northern corner of the last house that was built. The east tower was replaced by another one at a later date. In 1915 a new concrete tower, the present one, was built approximately 30 feet from this one. Don Daggett lit this new light for the first time when he took charge of the station. He cut down the old one to a lower height some time after he went to the island to keep it from being mistaken for a station with two towers. The keepers and their children referred to it as "the castle". It was used for a paint shed and , sometimes, for picking ducks. According to Percy Green, the first tower built in 1832 was torn down in 1905 and the lumber used to build a small barn.
Photo courtesy Grand Manan Museum
Photo taken in the 1930s
L. to R. whistlehouse,the castle,lighthouse,old dwelling,barn(in behind new house), hen house.
On Northern point there was a building that fishermen used to live in when they came there and it was torn down in the early 1930s. During the 1940s Harvey Benson was principal keeper, with Lawrence Benson his second keeper.At that time there were eleven buildings on the island.
John Conley was the first lightkeeper at Seal Island,where he lived with his wife Elizabeth and their family.He died there ca.1844 and his body was later removed to St. Andrews for burial. He and his son Obadiah were credited with saving the lives of the crews of at least seven shipwrecks.
Lightkeeper Angus Smiley 1993
Photo copyright Chris Mills
Today there are four keepers, two taking rotating twenty-eight day shifts. It is the only light station still manned in the Maritime Provinces.
PAUL CRANFORD, Fiddler and Lightkeeper
GRAND HARBOUR LIGHT
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