Great Lakes Boating

w w w.G r e a t L a ke s B o a t i n g .c o m D e p a r t m e n t | GREAT LAKES BOATING 55 Lighthouses Of The Great Lakes By Seth Harper KINCARDINE LIGHTHOUSE LAKE HURON, ONTARIO T his quaint lighthouse in the small Canadian town of Kincardine, Ontario, sits right off Lake Huron on the mouth of the Penetangore River. It consists of a 62-foot white tower with a red balcony and tower on top. After a failed build attempt in 1878, it was finally completed in 1881. Kincardine Lighthouse serves multiple purposes as both a harbor light and lake coast light. Just days after Tom McGaw took over as the third lighthouse keeper in 1899, his father and three of his cousins attempted, in a fishing boat, to rescue the occupants of a schooner called the Anna Maria. In the attempt they too found themselves in need of rescue, so Keeper McGaw and three other men found another boat and managed to save two crew members of the Anna Maria and three of the original rescuers. In recognition of their efforts, the rescuers received a gold life-saving medal from the US President William McKinley and a bronze medal from the Royal Canadi- an Humane Society. On summer nights the Phantom Piper can be heard playing from the tower of the lighthouse. Legend has it that in 1856 Donald Sinclair and his family found themselves lost at sea during a storm near what is now called Kincardine. Sinclair grabbed his bag- pipes, began playing, and soon heard another bagpipe player from the shore. This allowed Sinclair and his family to safely find land. In memory of this event, members of the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band take turns acting as the Phantom Piper on summer nights. By 1997 a keeper was no longer needed and the lighthouse was leased to a yacht club. Today, Kincardine Lighthouse acts a museum where visi- tors can walk up its 69 steps. •

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