Point Amour Lighthouse

Point Amour light was built between 1854 and 1857 and stands thirty-three metres, the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada and the second tallest in the country, on a point commanding the Strait of Belle Isle where currents, fog and ice have wrecked a long list of vessels; HMS Raleigh, a British cruiser, ran aground here in 1922 and was later blown up. A hundred and twenty-two steps climb the tower. The keeper's house is furnished to the 1850s. Nearby, the Maritime Archaic burial mound at L'Anse Amour is around seventy-five hundred years old and is the oldest known funeral monument in North America.

What you actually see

• The 33-metre tower - the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada, climbable.
• The keeper's house - furnished to the 1850s station period.
• The wreck history - the Strait of Belle Isle and HMS Raleigh.
• The L'Anse Amour mound - a 7,500-year-old burial, the oldest known in North America.

When to go

June to September; the site closes for winter and the ferry from Newfoundland is seasonal. Icebergs pass through the strait in early summer. Fog is very frequent.

Honest expectations

Reaching Labrador requires a ferry that weather cancels. The tower climb is a hundred and twenty-two steps. The site closes for most of the year.

Nearby

Red Bay lies east; the ferry to Newfoundland runs from Blanc-Sablon.