The Flatfields Point Light stands on a rocky cliff on the northern shore of Belden Island, overlooking Brackmore Cove and the open waters of the Paciflantic Ocean. From this exposed position, the lighthouse has guided fishing boats and merchant vessels safely away from the reef-strewn coastline since the late 18th century, and remains one of the most recognizable landmarks in Lochburn County.
By the mid-18th century, the waters off Flatfields Point had earned a poor reputation among sailors, with submerged reefs and thick autumn fogs making the approach to Belden Island's northern coast genuinely hazardous. Following several wrecks in the 1760s, the Belden Island Colonial Assembly voted in 1770 to fund the construction of a lighthouse, with land donated by a local landowner named Edmund Hargrove. Construction was completed in 1771, making it one of the earliest navigational structures in Lochburn County.
Its first keeper, a retired fisherman by the name of Jacob Morley, tended the light for over thirty years without interruption. In 1854, the original flame was replaced with a Fresnel lens, and the tower was electrified in 1921.
The Flatfields Point Light is a whitewashed cylindrical wooden tower, rising 19 meters above the cliff top. It is topped by a cast-iron lantern room with a narrow wrought-iron balcony. The adjacent keeper's cottage, built in wood with a slate roof, has been restored and today serves as a small interpretive center for visitors.
Automated since 1987, the lighthouse emits three white flashes every fifteen seconds. It was designated a protected historical monument in 2003 and is maintained by the Lochburn County Heritage Office and the Belden Island Maritime Trust.
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Fun fact:
The three-flash pattern of the Flatfields Point Light was long nicknamed the Farmer's Clock by agricultural workers on the surrounding plain. During the short winter days, when darkness fell before the evening chores were done, the rhythmic pulse of the lighthouse served as a reliable time reference for labourers working near the shore. The nickname has endured to this day.
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