Elodie and Thomas Foster

After talking with Claire Foster today, I drove to the cemetery where both Elodie and Thomas Foster, lightkeepers at Swallowtail, are buried (on Hill Road) and easily found their grave markers alongside the road with other Fosters including Thomas' brother.

Elodie was 44 when she died because of the accident lighting the lantern at Swallowtail. Thomas lived exactly twice that time, dying when he was 88. He did remarry after Elodie's death.

The last lightkeeper at Swallowtail, Grimmer Ingersoll, is also buried in the same cemetery.

Canada Day

We are again having a flag raising at Swallowtail Light on July 1, at 9 AM. The RCMP in red serge uniform will be presiding. This will be our second annual event. We will also have Claire Foster and family helping with the flag. Elodie Foster, Thomas Foster's wife died in 1936 when her clothing caught on fire as she was lighting the lantern at Swallowtail and she died from the burns. Apparently she had accidentally overfilled the lantern with alcohol which burst into flames when she lit the wick. Thomas, the lightkeeper at the time at Swallowtail was tending the Southwest Head light at the time and had left the tending of the Swallowtail with his wife. Thomas and Elodie were Claire's husband's great uncle and aunt. We would like to honour Elodie in the future, along with all the other light keepers, once we start working on the historic displays.

Hard to believe a year has passed so quickly but we have made some in roads with the project including:

• initial cleanup of all the buildings
• installing the flag pole and first official flag raising
• successfully registering with the province and federally as a charity
• achieving a Memorandum of Understanding with the Village of Grand Manan to assume the responsibilities of the buildings
• reroofing the former Ross Island Boat House and the small pumphouse (located at the top of the hill)
• building a fabulous deck/observation area surrounding the former Ross Island Boat House
• cleaning up some of the vegetation around the parking area and cliff
• temporarily fixing the screening on the stairs leading to the bridge
• fixing the railing on the bridge

We could not have done any of this if it were not the dedication of numerous volunteers, and the generous support of donors, both financially and inkind. Look forward this summer to a table at the Farmer's Market, evening sails and musical/dinner/tea adventures. We hope to Hug Swallowtail on July 12 but this is dependent on whether the lead paint cleanup is finished. This project was begun late last fall by the federal government concerned about the high levels of lead in the soil around the foundations of the old keepers house torn down in 1958 and the lighthouse, after nearly 150 years of painting and scraping.

Our next major work event will be in September with members of a Rotary Club from Florida arriving specifically to work on the buildings at Swallowtail. We will, of course, be doing some work throughout the summer whenever anyone has some time. We desperately need to fix the southern end of the boat house beside the keepers house before the entire end disappears this winter.

If you are interested in helping or have some suggestions, please let us know.

Weekend deck building

Each weekend, Terry Davidson has been donating a day supervising the construction of the deck around the former Ross Island boat house at the top of the hill at Swallowtail. A few volunteers including Ken Ingersoll, Bryant Eaton, Mike Stymest and Lloyd MacFarlane have been helping. Last Sunday, Terry sculpted the cedar deck around the rock outcropping and two additional piers were dug to have the deck extend out along the driveway and make access easier from both sides of the building.

There have been lots of questions from tourists about what we are doing and hopefully we will be able to get some signage, including how to find the lighthouse by road. Many summer residents have been returning this week and have also commented on the work being done.

Let us know if you want to help. We don't always advertise what we are doing but we can let you know what needs to be done and how you can join in.

Fundraising this summer

The summer is fast approaching and while we will have quite a bit done on two of the buildings, we need to get the word out about the project and also bring in more funding to start working on the boathouse and keepers house. While the labour has been free so far with over 290 hours donated, the building materials have been costly as anyone knows who has done any renovating or building.

We are planning a number of fund raisers to help replenish our bank account and more will no doubt emerge. On Saturday, May 16 we will be cleaning the ditches in North Head. The Village of Grand Manan supports this effort financially and gets clean ditches in return.

On Father's Day, June 21, we will be having a BBQ at the Anchorage Provincial Park. In addition, we are requesting that people bring their instruments and an impromptu jam session will hopefully emerge.

On July 1, we will have our annual official flag raising with the RCMP presiding in red serge.

On July 12, we are having a Hug Swallowtail light house event, with cold drinks and food available. Swallowtail will have turned 149 by then. The official lighting for the first time occurred on July 7, 1860.

We don't have dates for the next two but will occur in the summer, including a high tea at Whale Cove Cottages and a musical extravaganza at the Romig's barn off the Thoroughfare Road. The Romig's barn has a long reputation on Grand Manan with barn dances.

In September, a group of Rotarians from Florida will be coming to help work on the keepers house and boat house.

Any other fund raising efforts are greatly appreciated and we will be happy to advertise and participate in them. We we also have our Swallowtail boxes at a number of locations for individuals to contribute. Tax receipts are available for any monetary donation. We can also issue tax receipts for the fair market value of any material donated.

Should there be any changes in dates, we will strive to let everyone know.

Deck Party

The deck is taking shape around the former Ross Island Boat House. Some of the under structure was built on May 3 thanks to the supervision of a carpenter from the island, Terry Davidson. It will be mostly a continuing weekend project as people volunteer their time on their days off.

Once the deck is completed, it will make it easier to paint the building. We are also considering replacing a couple of the windows with windows that were removed from the keepers house to increase the view from inside the building.

The views are spectacular and the deck will wrap around three sides of the old boat house. I'm sure it will be well used and a place people will add to their favourite spots.

We plan to have the former boat house as a greeting centre for visitors, complete with old photographs of the light station and other interpretative information. For those who are unable to go out on the peninsula, it will be a great alternative.

Helicopter makes use of flag

The crew hired to cleanup the lead paint contamination at Swallowtail had their equipment helicoptered back onto the peninsula today after breaking off their work during the winter months. They have another month left and when finished will have spent four months cleaning the soil where the original keepers house stood and around the base of the lighthouse.

On Saturday as part of our Earth Day work party, the flag pole and flag were re-hoisted. The red and white Canadian flag seems to finish the scenic vista and was invaluable to the helicopter pilot today as the wind shifted during the many trips bringing equipment from the pick up site at Hole-in-the-Wall Park to Swallowtail.

Work Party Success

On Saturday, April 25, about one year since we organized the first cleanup at Swallowtail, 30 people participated in projects at the upper section of the Swallowtail light station. This is the most accessible part of the light station and has parking, a pump house, and a shed which was originally part of the Fish Fluke Point light house and was used as a boat house (we frequently refer to it as the Ross Island boat house). The group successfully shingled the pump house and half of the old boat house/shed. The shed had both cedar and asphalt shingles which made stripping the roof more time consuming because of all the nails. Despite the fact that the roof had been leaking for quite some time, there was very little rot and that was easily fixed. The shed was also scraped and readied to be painted. The grounds were cleaned up around the buildings.

In addition, concrete footings for a new observation deck were dug, pinned and poured. This deck will wrap around the old boat house and provide a wonderful view of the light house and peninsula.

Part of the trail that originally ran from the stairs that lead down to the light house to Pettes Cove was cleared of fallen trees and undergrowth and is now open for use. This section can be accessed from along the road leading to the light house or at the head of the stairs and walking back toward Pettes Cove. There are some marvelous views of Pettes Cove and Net Point.

Lunch was provided by members of Swallowtail Keepers Society and included hot dogs, egg salad sandwiches and curried chicken pitas.

We hope to have more work parties throughout the spring, summer and fall. Work will begin on the deck shortly. The last half of the roof will be shingled soon. Then there is painting, painting and more painting. Fixing some of the windows. The Canada Day flag raising. Working on the southern wall of the boat house. Making the keepers house watertight. Replacing the roof on both the boat house and keepers house.....

Anyone who wishes to help physically or by donating material or by donating money can contact any of the Swallowtail keepers.