Colchester Reef Light, Maritime navigation tower in Essex, Ontario, Canada

Colchester Reef Light is a white steel skeletal tower with a helicopter landing pad, standing on a stone caisson in the Western Basin of Lake Erie south of Colchester, Ontario. The 1885 tower it replaced was demolished in 1954; the caisson, once the cellar of a structure with four floors and an attached fog bell tower, remains.

The lighthouse was built in 1885 under Colonel William P. Anderson's direction and replaced an earlier lightvessel serving the same navigation point. Anderson was an influential engineer who shaped the design and placement of over 500 navigation structures across the region.

The lighthouse represents maritime heritage on Lake Erie and recalls the importance of navigation aids for ships traveling this vital waterway. It embodies an era when such structures required lighthouse keepers to live at remote postings.

The lighthouse sits on open water and is best viewed from boats, especially on clear days when the white structure stands out clearly against the sky. Access is primarily for maintenance and inspection purposes, so public visits are typically not possible.

The 1882 drawings show a fog bell tower reached from the fourth floor, a feature the present tower lacks. The stone caisson below survives from the 1885 building; on its south side the surrounding cement has eroded, exposing mortar between the blocks that needs repair.