Fantastic Chocolate Tea

What a great success! Our chocolate tea was impressive from the old fashioned hot chocolate to an incredible assortment of chocolate desserts. The aroma of chocolate greeted everyone who came through the door. The approximately 55 people attending all went away smiling. We also offered $5 and $10 take-away plates of which many were destined for the largely absent male participants.

The eclectic range of the donated items in the jumble table also sold well and we have some remaining for a future event. We also had Swallowtail matted photos donated from a local photographer for future fund-raising.

There are so many people to thank from the North Head Baptist Church for donating their hall and providing some entertainment and decorations, to everyone who made desserts and sandwiches, to those donating items for the jumble table, to those organizing and working the tea, and several people who volunteered to bus tables and do dishes after they finished their plates, and of course, to everyone who came out and enjoyed the afternoon. The money raised will be put toward the 150th celebrations this summer of the first lighting of Swallowtail or Swallow's Tail as it was originally called.

Next year should be bigger and better!

Tracks in the Snow

Not many people wander around at Swallowtail in the coldest part of the winter. Even on the calmest days, it can be quite windy. However, it is still alive with activity. I walked out to the lighthouse on Wednesday (Feb. 10) with a consultant who is developing a business plan for Swallowtail Keepers Society. It had been several days since it had snowed and much of the snow had disappeared in the current mild temperatures but in protected, shady areas there were still patches of snow. Despite the mild temperatures, the wind chill was such from the freshening northeast wind that ear muffs were welcome. Footing was good in the snow unlike last winter when the path was predominately ice covered.

Swallowtail as seen from the top of the hill between the former Ross Island boat house and the pumphouse.

At the top of the hill there were numerous white-tailed deer tracks and those of a dog. Down the steps and past the footbridge, snow-shoe hare tracks criss-crossed the path, as did those of a red squirrel and probably meadow voles. A cat had also walked out along the path, perhaps one of the feral cats or possibly someone's pet. But ours were the first human tracks since the snowfall.

Meadow vole, cat and hare tracks (left to right) in the snow on the path to the lighthouse.

The consultant had been to Grand Manan many times but other than seeing Swallowtail light from the ferry, he had never actually walked out. He was so impressed with the peninsula and the amazing ocean views. The location of Swallowtail light is certainly unique, from first viewing the light after climbing the hill to look down upon it, the footbridge and long walk out to the light and then the tower itself with its unusual design with one less side at the top of the tower than at the base. There is something to see from one end to the other.

Snowy path on the way to the lighthouse.

Chocolate Tea - February 13

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we are looking forward to a fun event on the weekend, a Chocolate Delight Tea that we organized as a fund-raiser for the 150th anniversary celebrations this summer of the first lighting of Swallowtail light.

There will be a fabulous chocolate buffet table from which everyone can choose their favourites, plus tea, coffee and, of course, hot chocolate. Inn at Whale Cove Cottages (www.WhaleCoveCottages.ca) is providing a door prize of dinner for two. We will also have a small jumble table of new and used items.

This is a prelude to a much bigger event next winter that will also have a chocolate theme, music, auction and generally fun.

Circle of Light. Researching Historical Information

It is unfortunate that a number of marine tragedies had to occur before lighthouses and fog horns were built around the Grand Manan archipelago. The treacherous ledges were the first to be protected with the building of Gannet Rock light and Machias Seal Island light in the 1830s. The wreck of the Lord Ashburton in 1857 in Whale Cove helped raise the priority of protecting the northern end of the archipelago. The construction of Swallowtail lighthouse and accompanying buildings began in the summer of 1859 with most of the work being completed by October. However, the lighthouse remained dark until the lantern was delivered from England the next year.

With the 150th anniversary of the first lighting of Swallowtail lighthouse this summer, Swallowtail Keepers Society has been gathering some of the historical information. From their family papers, Basil and Kaye Small gave me a copy of the sale of the right-of-way to Swallowtail light (Old Airport Road from Pettes Cove Road to Lighthouse Road and Lighthouse Road to the Saw Pit foot bridge) from James and Hadassa Small to the Canadian Government for $100, dated January 6, 1880. James had also formerly owned the “Swallow Tail” and had sold that for about $25 so the lighthouse could be built. It is a neat part of the lighthouse history but it also became more personal when I realized that one of the properties described in this paper was in all likelihood our own house. We had always wondered about the age of our house but the deed hadn’t been registered until 1930, which wasn’t unusual. Deeds were often signed when properties were sold and simply transferred without travelling to St. Andrews to have them registered.

We knew from the style and construction of our house with post and beam, hand forged nails, and wooden pegs that the house dated from the 1800s. The lumber used in our house came from many sources with some of the beams hand-hewn, others milled and others salvaged from other buildings and possibly ships. One wide plank (43cm or 17”) we uncovered had scorch marks on it but the marks did not make sense if the fire had occurred in this house. Most likely the lumber was salvaged from a building fire. Because of the numerous ship wrecks in the archipelago, timbers from ships were also a prized material and some of our beams have large iron spikes in them, possibly suggesting salvage from a ship.

So getting a piece of history about Swallowtail started me on a trail of discovery about the history of our own house. Armed with a name, John Dixon, I started looking at some of the censuses that are available online. The 1881 census had John and Elizabeth Dixon listed, as did the 1871 and 1861 and also later ones 1891, 1901, 1911, although there were variations in birth dates (remembering birth dates was not always precise) and spelling which often depended on the whim of the census taker asking people questions when not everyone could read or write. The data online has also been interpreted from handwritten documents that can be difficult to read. Neither John nor Elizabeth appear in the 1851 census for Grand Manan so working backwards from the 1861 census I made a number of assumptions including they were married on Grand Manan after 1851 and given that their oldest child was about 7 in 1861, that John and Elizabeth were married for about a year before her birth, that they built their house for their marriage and wasn’t built by someone else and people didn’t move very often then, our house could have been built as early as 1853 but probably not later than 1861 since the Dixon household was already existing as recorded in the census. Having only researched online so far, there are many other avenues that I can now explore such as the archives and church and cemetery records, for example, but it is a good beginning.

John & Elizabeth Dixon’s house, Circa 1900, as seen from the coastal foot trail to Swallowtail from Pettes Cove.Now, assuming our house was built in the 1850s, the Dixon’s would have heard the talk about needing a lighthouse on the northern end of Grand Manan, particularly after experiencing the Lord Ashburton tragedy and its significant loss of life. John Dixon being a fisherman may well have gone to Whale Cove to help search for survivors. He also may have been the Captain Dixon who in 1872 towed the damaged schooner Tempo to Flagg’s Cove from Spruce Island at the Wolves where she went aground, as described in Eric Allaby’s 2001 description from the Grand Manan Historian XXV1, “Shipwrecks of Grand Manan”, although Peter Dixon also lived on Grand Manan at that time. The Dixon’s and, of course, others living in view of “Swallow Tail”, would have watched the construction of the Swallowtail lighthouse and lightkeepers buildings in 1859 and then saw the light glow in Pettes Cove at dusk on July 7, 1860 when it was lit for the first time, using porpoise oil for fuel. They would have also become familiar with the fog bell as it was tolled in response to approaching vessels. The construction of Swallowtail light changed not only the course of marine navigation but also the perception of a rocky peninsula, turning it into a strong symbol or icon of Grand Manan for all who travel to and from these shores.

Frosty lighthouse

A chilly December 30 left the glass in the Swallowtail lighthouse frosted, giving the light a diffuse glow. No heat in the light tower prevents the frost from melting off the glass when it is cold.

Just one more day left in this first decade of the twenty-first century. It has turned cold today , -14C, after being 8C just a couple of days ago and 1C yesterday. It also feels colder because of the strong NW wind which has been rattling our house all night. Looking toward Swallowtail this morning, the sea smoke or ice fog or as it is called locally, vapour, is being pushed up and over the lighthouse. The windows in the lantern are frosted over giving a soft glow to the light.

Here is a short video of Pettes Cove and Swallowtail with the sea smoke being blown over the surface. The top poles of Cora Belle weir can seen in the sea smoke.

What a chilly day it would be to be a lightkeeper at Swallowtail, having to walk from the keepers house to the light tower and back. It is quite evident on days like this why there was a board walk with a railing connecting these two buildings. It would be easy to get blown off the path and add blinding snow, get lost on this short walk.

The automated light today keeps working for the most part with little maintenance, although no one is keeping heat on in the tower to keep the windows free of frost there are few on the water these days looking for the guiding light.

Sea smoke, ice fog or vapour surrounding the top poles of the Cora Belle weir in Pettes Cove.

Sea smoke, ice fog or vapour forming on the surface in Pettes Cove.

Icicles from water runoff on the cliffs near Swallowtail.

Icicles on rocks near foot bridge leading to Swallowtail.

Christmas on Grand Manan

A light covering of snow is still holding on to the Swallowtail peninsula, with the lighthouse in competition for whiteness on the point. The temperature has been a steady -2C all day and overcast with relatively light winds.

A walk down to Pettes Cove was a delight without having to buck strong winds. There was one other person on the beach, looking for beach glass and a harbour seal just offshore. Lots of white-tail deer tracks through the snow and the ravens and herring gulls have been busy with their daily foraging. Not sure who found the giblets from the turkey that I left in the back yard on the snow but they have disappeared.

A very nice peaceful day, the last Christmas in the first decade of the twenty-first century - where has all the time gone? Was it not just 1999 and we were all wondering what this new century would bring?

Happy Holidays!