Gull Island Lighthouse
This is a 19th century picture of the Gull Island Lighthouse in Lake Erie off Lowbanks, Ontario near Port Colborne. This island is now called Mohawk Island.
The Gull Island Lighthouse there was built in 1848 and decommissioned in 1969. The first lighthouse keeper was Capt. John Burgess. He came from Orkney, Scotland in 1835. The picture was contributed by a descendant of Capt. Burgess.
Mohawk Island Light was completed in 1848 to guide ships to Port Maitland and the Welland Canal. The stone tower and keeper’s residence were built on a small island 1.5 miles offshore. Local farmer John Burgess was the first keeper.
In December 1932, keeper Richard Foster and his son James received a report that their home in Dunnville was on fire. Despite a blizzard, the two men left in a boat. The men were stranded on an ice floe and died of exposure. The light was automated the next year.
By the 1930′s, the lighthouse had become less important. The Welland Canal feeder to the Grand River was not rebuilt, which reduced shipping traffic in the area. In 1969, the light was replaced by a floating buoy.
When plans were announced to demolish the lighthouse, preservationists stepped in to save the light. However, little has been done to preserve the light. The lantern room and the roof of the keeper’s residence is gone, and building has been the target of vandals.
To read more about Mohawk Isand visit the Enviornment Canada site: Mohawk Island
Mohawk Island Inhabitants: Herring Gull
Today, the Mohawk Lighthouse Preservation Society in Lowbanks, Ontario is raising money to privately restore the lighthouse. The Mohawk Island Preservation Society can be reached at
905-774-1229, Mike Walker at Mohawk Marina.
Map View 1
Map View 2
Directions:From Ontario Highway 3 in Port Colborne, travel west on Niagara Region Highway 3, go through Wainfleet and turn left at Chambers Corners to keep on #3 Highway. Turn left at Hutchinson Road and turn right at the lake onto North Shore Blvd. Continue through Lowbanks past Mohawk Point Road. Shortly after you pass through a more settled area of the shore, you will enter a more rural area. Look for Dickhout Road just past the Windmill Farm . The next road is Pyle Road. Turn left (south) on Pyle. The lighthouse can be seen from the end of Pyle Road. (You can also turn left on Dickhout and right on Villella – this also leads you to the end of Pyle road. From Ontario Highway 3 in Dunnville, travel southeast on North Shore Blvd through Stromness to Pyle Road.
Have your say, your comments are welcome
Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!
Very informative site on Mohawk Island. The write up gave me so much info. My father, Olaf Anger told us as children how he used to row out to the island to visit Dick Foster and about the search for the two men after their disapearance. He was good friends with James as well and related how the local men searched on the ice carrying long poles just in case they went through it would enable them to be rescued or enable them to pull themselves up to safety.He related how it was a very sad day when the two men were lost and that he was there when they found the bodies.
Thanks for your comment, and yes, I agree it is a memorable story about the history of the Lighthouse.
John Burgess is my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather. I have an interesting letter I was given by my Father with many details of life in the mid-1800′s in Dunnville. My Dad went up there to visit last year. I’m sorry to read the very sad story about Richard Foster and his son, James. The winters must have been brutal.
Winters can be brutal, I know as I live 1.6 miles from Mohawk Island at highbanks (Neices Hill, Pyle Road area). The worst of it is when we get howling winds and ice chards whipping at us when the waves are rolling so high, you think the lake will come right in the windows! We certainly get weather that is interesting.
When the storm has past though, we are back to wonderful post card Canadian winter. Here on the hill, we have an awesome view of Lake Erie and the Lighthouse. Some winters, we can even walk out to it!