Helicopter swoops in to help save Grand Manan's Swallowtail Lighthouse

Standing on the peninsula near the northeastern tip of Grand MananIsland, a 163-year-old lighthouse has been crumbling for decades.

For years, the white and crimson Swallowtail Lighthouse has been battered bywater and nasty storms leadingto acollapsing plaster ceiling and some of its 90-year-old shingles blowing away in the wind.

In February, head lighthouse keeper Ken Ingersoll said the building was a only a year away from irreversible damage.

Last week, construction finally started,with a little help from an unexpected source.

The Canadian Coast Guard stepped in and offered to provide ahelicopter and crew to transport the materials needed.Fundy Contractors has been hired to carry out the repairs onsite.

66 loadsand counting

Ingersoll saidthe coast guardbrought 66 loads of supplies to the island last Friday, withmore tripsto come in the following weeks.

The only alternative to the helicopter would have been to bring in everything by boat,which would take long and be at the mercy of the tides.

"Words can't express the thanks I could give those guys," Ingersolladded.

Jan Lockhart, a volunteer with Swallowtail Keepers Society, said that after a month of waiting for construction to start, just watching the helicopter drop off supplieswas enthralling.

"The accuracy of how he can take these small loads and place them so gently and carefully into a very specific spot and do it so well and then take off, it's just amazing skill," she said.

Ingersoll says he went door-to-door to warn residents before theload was choppered in because of the noise and disruptionof thehelicopter and the swinging load of materials it carried.

"They were a little taken aback," he said.

WATCH | Swallowtail Lighthouse gets some much needed repairs:

Swallowtail Lighthouse gets by with a little help from its Coast Guard friends

1 year ago

Duration 2:04

The Canadian Coast Guard flew into action,delivering construction materials by helicopter, to repair a beloved and historic lighthouse on Grand Manan Island.

One resident had to bring her plants indoors because the rotor wash from the helicopter was flattening them, he said.

Yet, nobody complained, Ingersoll said. One woman even baked muffins and brewed tea for the workers.

"Everyone wants to see Swallowtail fixed," he said. "It's just not an issue."

Fundraising to save the lighthouse began in August of last year, and Ingersoll said that donations began streaming in shortly after.

A telethonon CHCO-TV, a community televisionstation, raised $55,000. Both the provincial and the federal government each pitched in $85,000, he added.

The final cost of repairs is hefty, though. Once they began stripping the lighthouse, Ingersoll said they discovered more rot bringing the total cost to $508,000.

Only $30,000 more is needed, andIngersoll is confident that they'll receive the funding.

"Everyone loves Swallowtail," he said. "It's our gem."

The Swallowtail Lighthouse was first built in 1859, but it wasn't officially lit until 1860 because the cupola was late to arrive. Not long after, according to the lighthouse's website, Swallowtailwas damaged after northeast gales struckthe peninsula.

Anneke Gichuru, former director and curator at the Grand Manan Museum, said there's a lot ofhistory wrapped up in Swallowtail.

"There are many stories of people who survived because they were able to use the Swallowtail as the navigational point," she said.

"There's also a story of a fire that destroyed part of the building, and a woman lost her life going in that saved her child. So there's some quite traumatic events about the lighthouse itself."

Perfect preservation of an historic siteisn't always possible.

Before construction began, Ingersoll said the coast guard suggested an alternative plan for reconstruction involving a more durable nylon material, rather than using the cedar shingle that once coveredthe tower.

Although he was on board, he worried theremight be backlash for changing the material.

"I understand the romance of the cedar shingle and the lighthouse keeper with a pipe in his teeth," he said. "It's modern material we're changing."

But Ingersoll is confident that people will be happy with the final product. "It's absolutely gorgeous," he said. "It won't rot. When it's done it looks just like cedar shingle, and you don't have to paint it."

Affection for the lighthouse seems to grow stronger with time. Ingersoll said that when he and his wife began looking after Swallowtail in 2008, a couple of thousand people visited. Now, roughly 22,000 to 26,000 people who come out annually, he said.

He said the lighthouse repairsshould be finished by mid-September.

"I think it is a very beloved icon," said Gichuru. For people visiting, "their arrival on Grand Manan really begins with seeing Swallowtail."