Chantry Island LighthouseSouthampton, ON

Chantry Island lies just over a mile southwest of the mouth of the Saugeen River at Southampton. Over 50 known shipwrecks surround Chantry Island and its imperial tower. Victims of the rocky shoals and deadly storms has proven that the waters surrounding the island are the  most treacherous in the Great Lakes.

Today, the local Marine Heritage Society offers lighthouse tours that include a restored lightkeeper’s home, where rubble has been cleared from the basement, the stone walls have been rebuilt, and a new roof has been installed. The island gardens have also been replanted; all told, over 25,000 volunteer hours have been invested in the site. In the tower, one hundred and fifteen narrow steps lead to the lamp room, seven sets of 15 and one set of 10.

Today, Chantry Island is home to over 10,000 pairs of mating birds, including cormorants, black-crowned night herons, great blue herons and egrets. Chantry Island is a Canadian Wildlife Service migratory bird sanctuary.

Featured Story: “Young Girl on Chantry Island”

As a young child, Jean Scott, now Jean Davies, lived in Southampton and was friends with Ruth Klippert, the daughter of the Chantry Island lighthouse keeper. Because of this friendship, Jean made many trips to the lighthouse during the 1930’s.

This is some of what she recalls: So many things about the island! First, I remember the bats. My God! They had bats in that house. Oh! I spend half my weekends running around with a broom matting down bats, Ruth would have a broom, and I would have one and old John (Ruth’s dad, lighthouse keeper) would have one. I remember the time we knocked over a lamp, which wasn’t very good. But, he was a nice old man. Quiet. (But he’d get after us.) Every night – it wasn’t electrified then – we had to climb to the top to light the light.

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