Port Weller
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Port Weller Quick Facts
Year Station Established: 1931
Is the Light operational? Yes
Year Light First Lit: 1931
Year Automated: 1931
Shape: Art Decco
Tower Height: 40 ft.
Original Optic:
Present Optic:
Existing Keepers Quarters? NO
Year Constructed:
Number of Stories:
Architectural Style:
Construction Materials:
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Port Weller Light,
St Catharines, Ontario
[Photo 2]
| Last Visited: May, 2004 History/Info:
Port Weller marks the northern entrance of the Welland Canal, which
links Lake Ontario with Lake Erie. The canal allowed vessels to bypass
the Niagara River and Niagara Falls, and opened all of the Great Lakes
to outside shipping. The canal's original 1829 northern terminus was
Port Dalhousie.
Modifications to the canal over time have moved the entrance three
times. The current northern terminus was completed in 1932 at Port
Weller. The first lighthouse was completed in 1931. The white concrete
Art Deco style light, built during development of the Saint Lawrence
Seaway (Williamson, p. 98), is still active.
The main light at Port Weller was further inland from the pierhead.
The light was a skeleton frame with a lantern room and catwalk at the
top. The life of keeper Cyril Williamson and his family is chronicled
in Ethel Williamson's A Light on the Seaway. The Williamsons lived at
the station for 25 years from 1946 until the main light was
extinguished. The main light was demolished in 1971.
Source:
Rudy and Alice's Lighthouse Page
Personal Note:
Unless you've got a really powerful lens, it's probably not worth
trying to see this light. The above photo was taken with a 400mm lens,
and it's still a long distance photo.
Latitude/Longitude: 43°14'N 79°13'W
Directions:
click here for overview map
click here for
detail map
click here for detail map 2
- From Niagra Falls, Ontario, take the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) east
towards Toronto.
- Take exit 46.
- At the end of the ramp, turn left onto Lake St.
- Follow Lake St. for about 1km. At that point much of the traffic forks
left onto Lakeport Rd. Do like everyone else and bear left onto Lakeport Rd.
- Take Lakeport Rd. for 1.2km to the traffic lights. Turn right onto
Lakeshore Rd.
- Follow Lakeshore Rd. for about 4.5km. Just before the bridge that goes
over the Welland Canal, take a left onto Bunting Rd. (may also be called
Government Rd).
- Take that road as far as you can go. Off in the distance, at the mouth of
the canal, you'll see the light.
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