Point Abino Light Tower, National historic lighthouse on Lake Erie in Fort Erie, Canada.
Point Abino Light Tower is a tapered, five-storey white concrete tower in the Greek Revival style with red accents, rising from one end of a single-storey, flat-roofed fog alarm building on a rocky shelf at the tip of the Point Abino peninsula. Its iron lantern is painted red, and a concrete walkway links the deck to the keeper's residence built on shore in 1921.
The tower was constructed between 1917 and 1918 by the Department of Marine and Fisheries in response to increased shipping activity following the completion of the Welland Canal. This project reflected the growing importance of lake commerce during the early 20th century.
The name Point Abino is a corruption of Claude Aveneau, the Jesuit missionary who built a log cabin on the peninsula's dunes. In 1892 Buffalo developer Isaac Holloway subdivided the point into fifty lots for Buffalo businessmen, and their Point Abino Association negotiated with the Department of Marine and Fisheries to restrict access to the lighthouse from the water.
The site is landlocked: the surrounding peninsula is private property, so approaches and visits are severely restricted and there is no public parking at the tower. The keepers themselves reached the light only by wading through the shallows, and construction material had to be brought in along the western shore.
The Point Abino Association, formed by the wealthy summer residents, negotiated an agreement with the Department of Marine and Fisheries that restricted access to the tower from the water. As a result, the keepers reached the light only by wading through the shallows, and even construction materials had to be brought in along the western shore.
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