Why a P.E.I. man built a lighthouse in his yard

Shortly after you turn onto Barbara Weit Road in New Annan P.E.I., you are greeted by beautiful vistas of bays, fields and now — a white and red lighthouse.

The main structure is about 16-by-30 feet with a tower that is about 40 feet high. Chris Wall says, building the lighthouse allowed him to tick one more thing off of his bucket list.

"I always liked lighthouses. I guess it was an affection of being around water so many years," said Wall.  

This isn't the first lighthouse Wall has built. A few years ago he constructed a smaller one on his property resembling the lighthouse at Cape Tryon, which he later sold. 

Challenges 

"It's a bit of a hybrid model. I had a picture of fish Islands from 1913, but it's also a crossbreed version of the [North] Rustico [lighthouse] and New London [Harbour] lighthouse." 

Collectively, it took Wall about six months to build his most recent lighthouse.

He was limited by the weather and was forced to work around it — most of the construction took place during the fall of 2017 and 2018. 

"Last fall was awesome, the weather was perfect, but this fall as anyone will tell you was wet and windy. I did struggle to get it completed."

In addition to weather, another challenge Wall was faced with was shingling the roof of the lighthouse.

"Eight and a half to nine kilometres a day basically straight up and down. I wasn't leaving the property but I'd have 15 thousand steps a day just straight up and down," he said.  

Attracting attention

The new lighthouse in the neighbourhood has been getting quite a bit of attention, Wall said. 

"I've had a lot of people stop when I've been up the ladder or climbing on the roof to see what's been going on, he said.  

"A lot of people can't believe it at first, they think it was actually hauled here, they don't think it was built here."

As of now, the lighthouse isn't operational and can't project light into the distance — but Wall hopes to someday make this a reality. Currently, the interior is being used as storage but he is thinking about converting the space into a living space for tourists to possibly rent.  

But no matter how the lighthouse is used, Wall says, he is sure of one thing: it will always remind him of his first love — the sea.

"It was always a passion I guess just being around the water and now if I get old and I can't travel too far I can always look out the window and see a lighthouse."

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