‘Unless repairs are done this fall
we can’t recommend a trip there’
To the Expositor:
We’ve vacationed on Manitoulin Island for a week each of the last few years.
This year a highlight was a trip to Meldrum Bay and the Mississagi Lighthouse.
The Mississagi Lighthouse is highly featured in all the tourism brochures for Manitoulin Island and was well worth the visit. But…
Unless something is done this fall, the Mississagi Lighthouse will suffer irreparable damage. The interior of the lighthouse is still in excellent shape but the roof is terminal. Leaks are being prevented by cheap temporary plastic tarps that have been up so long they are fraying. Paint is pealing off the old wood siding to the point that I wonder how/if they are keeping the weather out from between the walls. With the amateur handpainted signage on plywood scraps, it’s embarrassing to be included as a tourist destination, even now!
If it had no visitors, even though it represents 100 years of heritage, I’d say do away with it. It does have visitors though. The restaurant in the old fog horn building, that also desperately needs exterior work, was doing a good business when we were there on the Wednesday afternoon. The parking lot had not less than four and up to a dozen visitor’s vehicles during the 2.5 hours we visited, and we were there longer than anyone else.
Without the draw of the lighthouse, we would not have visited the area. We would not have had lunch at the fog horn station there or dinner at the Meldrum Bay Inn. Unless work is done this fall to fix the roof and exteriors of the lighthouse and old fog horn building, we can’t recommend a trip there and you shouldn’t either. That would be really sad.
Respectfully,
Grant and Pat Smith
Kitchener
