Reading List of Books about Nova Scotian Lighthouses
April 2004    

General Works

Lighthouses & Lights of Nova Scotia E H Rip Irwin Nimbus, 2003 ISBN:1551094266 The most reliable and comprehensive history of Nova Scotia lights published so far. Written by a pioneer in lighthouse preservation in Atlantic Canada.

Against Darkness and Storm: Lighthouse of the Northeast. Harry Thurston. Nimbus, 1993. ISBN 1-55109-039-2. (Cloth) and 1-55109-053-8 (paperback) About lighthouses in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A good mixture of fine photos and thoughtful text.

Discover Nova Scotia Lighthouses. Dave Stephens and Susan Randles. Co-published by Nimbus Books and the Province of Nova Scotia, 1998. ISBN 1-55109-246-8. (paperback). A pocket guide to lighthouses accessible from the highways. Gives a photo, a brief outline or some history, and driving directions. Best used as an access tool, and not for historic information as there are some inaccuracies.

The Lighthouse. Dudley Whitney. McClelland & Stewart, 1975. ISBN 0-7710-8966-X. Contains a good history of lighthouses and then profiles of a selection of lights on the Eastern Coast of North America.

Lighthouses of Atlantic Canada New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador A Pictorial Guide. Courtney Thompson. Catnap Publications, Mt. Desert, Maine, 2000. ISBN 0-9651786-7-6. A useful visual reference with extensive colour photographs, maps and directions for most major lights in the region. Historical notes are sketchy but have been supplement by information borrowed from the NSLPS website.

The Sea Road to Halifax. Hugh F. Pullen. Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, 1980. ISBN 0-919680-15-1 (paperback) and 0-919680-15-1 (cloth). A detailed study of seamarks of Halifax Harbour from the outer buoys to Bedford basin, with history of each mark.

Lightkeepers and Families at Lighthouses

Memoirs of a Lightkeeper's Son Life on St. Paul Island Billy Budge Pottersfield Press, 2003. A funny and insightful account of growing up in on isolated St. Paul Island, "the Grave Yard of the Gulf".

Light in the Darkness. Walter W. Hitchens. Lancelot Press, 1993. ISBN 0-88999-513-3. The fascinating story of the establishment of the Seal Island light through the efforts of Mary Hitchens.

Vanishing Lights. Chris Mills. Lancelot Press, 1992. ISBN 0-88999-487-0. A young lighthouse keeper writes about his lifelong association with lighthouses, and the final days of staffed lights in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

We Keep a Light. Evelyn M. Richardson. McGraw Hill Ryerson Limited. First published 1945, reissued in paperback 985. ISBN 0-07-549077-3. The classic story of life on a light station in Nova Scotia in the 1940's.

B... Was for Butter and Enemy Craft Evelyn M. Richardson Halifax, Petheric Press, 1976 A sequel to We Keep a Light presenting a gripping account of wartime life at a lighthouse.