Many of the early lighthouses in the region had several common buildings, including the keeper’s house, the lantern room either in a separate tower or part of the keeper’s house, oil storage building and the privy. This view of the Cana Island Lighthouse has all four. The tower and keeper’s dwelling was built in 1869.
The two hole outhouse was built in 1906 but because of the solid rock only a couple feet below the surface, buckets were used instead of a deep hole. The six-sided oil house was constructed with local stones in 1890 which stored mineral oil and kerosene. In 1934, the light was converted from fuel to an electric bulb.
Cana Island Buildings
