Katherine Bickford

The Digby Pier Lighthouse, also known as the Digby Wharf Lighthouse, has an interesting history.

The first light to mark Digby Pier was established in 1887 as a lantern on a pole, exhibiting a red light. In 1903, an enclosed wooden tower replaced the mast light at the outer end of the government pier1. John Roney of Granville Ferry built this tower, which stood 27 feet tall and initially used a seventh-order lens to produce a fixed red light.

After the Digby ferry terminal moved in 1971, the pier fell into disrepair, and the Digby Pier Lighthouse was decommissioned. In the 1970s, the tower was moved to the Saint John Coast Guard Base in New Brunswick, which oversaw lighthouses in the Bay of Fundy.

Eventually it was time to bring the lighthouse back home. The new breakwater planned for Digby needed a light, and Cleveland felt it was fitting for the old Digby Pier Lighthouse to serve that purpose. Unlike other cases where lighthouses were still owned by the Coast Guard, the Digby Pier Lighthouse was not. Nevertheless, the request for repatriation was honored, and the lighthouse returned to Digby. Interestingly, the return involved a “ransom” of 230 pounds of scallops paid by Digby volunteers to Saint John.

Now, the historic Digby Pier Light stands proudly in its original home, marking the harbor and reminding us of its enduring maritime legacy