Got bottles????

OK ~ we had heard a lot about the Bottle Houses of PEI and even though we already ran into Hannah's Bottle Village we thought when we went to the Edouard Arsennault Bottle Houses we would see about the same thing ~ so not true.  This place was magnificent and one of the best things on the Island to see & do.  If you've ever wanted to visit a truly different attraction, The Bottle Houses of Prince Edward Island certainly will fit the bill. For a better view of House click on photos to enlarge ~ they are incredible and one  places while here on the Island.

Entrance to Bottle Houses

Located in Cape-Egmont on Route 11 of the North Cape Coastal Drive, the houses are a grand recycling project in which three full-sized buildings were constructed from 25,000 multi-colored glass bottles. What could be more out-of-the-ordinary than that?

Bottle Church ~ Pews are made with Votive Candle Jars from the Catholic Church ~
This church was made with over 8000 bottles

The Bottle Houses were the brainchild of the late Édouard Arsenault, a veteran of the Second World War, who constructed the buildings between 1980 and 1984. The idea was born from a postcard of a glass castle sent to him from a relative in British Columbia. Arsenault was so taken with the structure, he began to collect and clean bottles for his own glass building. Friends, neighbors and local businesses donated bottles to the project, and what began as a hobby for the 66 year old veteran soon blossomed into a most unique tourist attraction. The first of the Bottle Houses was opened to the public in 1981.

House of Six Gables ~ this is the first house built and it has over 12,000 bottles in it.

The House of Six Gables also contains a real organ that you can play if you know how or not!

Upon entering the houses, you are immediately engulfed in a kaleidoscope of color and overcomed by a surreal sense of peace and relaxation. The sunlight, filtered and diffused through the many different colors of glass, gives each structure a timeless feel, as if one has stepped into an alternate realm of multi-colored magic.

Bottoms up ~ Tavern ~ This tavern was Edouards second building which he used about 8000 more bottles

Immaculately groomed gardens and walkways make for a serene environment every bit as colorful as the main attractions themselves and provide a perfect, fantasy-like setting for the houses. You will find the various gardens, with their dry-stacked stone walls, and the pond, with its wooden bridge and fountain, a tranquil retreat. So many pictures I had for you to see so I have put them into a slide show for you to enjoy ~ Sit back and enjoy this wonderland.

The three houses include The Six Gabled House, The Tavern and The Chapel. The Six Gabled House is the first and largest of these and is remarkable not only for its size—20x14 feet—but for its complex architectural structure and for the appealing wall patterns achieved by the careful choice of colors and sizes of the bottles used.  The Tavern is a unique hexagon shape, and it is here that you can examine a huge collection of odd bottles preserved by the architect for their unusual qualities, and while in The Chapel, you can have a seat in the built-in pews, constructed entirely from bottles, of course. The building is designed to allow the sunlight to stream down upon the glass altar, the stained-glass effect giving the chapel a true sense of the sublime.

This is a reproduction of Cape Egmont Lighthouse which Edouard retired from in 1980

This was one of my favorite things on Prince Edward Island and is a BIG must to visit when you come here.  I hope you enjoyed this post and it has inspired you to go and visit it one day.

On the way out there is a beautiful gift shop with lots of GREAT goodies to buy ~ and not to pricey.

Have Fun & Travel Safe

Beacons of Light ~ Part II

One-eyed sentries standing tall
dare to challenge every squall,
to be a beacon in the night;
A guide, a friend, dependable light.

Raging Nature can never douse
The welcoming beam of a lighthouse.
A fortress planted at the shore
Undaunted security at any hour.

Never a ship will worry near
a rocky shoal with a lighthouse there.
To whom do we owe this nighttime blessing?
Those who've died on the rocks, I'm guessing
author unknown

These are some of the the other Lighthouses we enjoyed while here on Prince Edward Island ~ it has been a real joy searching for and visiting them.  There is nothing like the peace the ocean can bring you or the fury.  Our love for Lighthouses continue ~

Cape Tyron Lighthouse
We traveled out a long dirt road to reach this lighthouse ~ found it standing amongst the red dirt cliffs.  It was one of my favorite spots to go on our time on the island.  The square wooden tower is shingled. It is painted white with red trim and the lantern is also painted red like all Island lanterns. It has never had an attached dwelling. This is the second lighthouse at this site. Early records indicate a light was established there in 1865, although the first lighthouse itself was not built until 1905. The original lighthouse was a two-storey dwelling with the lantern attached to the roof on the seaward side. The original lighthouse was located somewhat to the left of the present tower. It has been relocated and nicely restored as a private residence.

Cape Egmont Lighthouse
Built in 1884 this coastal lighthouse is an important light for the fishing and other marine interests along the south west shore of the Northumberland Strait, as it is the only coastal light along the 46 mile coast between the lighthouses at West Point and Sea Cow Head.  It was a pretty little lighthouse along the rigged coast.



West Point Lighthouse
Built in 1885 West Point Lighthouse is called the first of the 2nd generation of lighthouses on PEI. It was the first one built by the new Department of Marine. The pre-Confederation or Colonial lighthouses on the Island were either round or octagonal. West Point was the first of the square towers and the highest. Eight Prince Edward Island lighthouses pre-date this one: Point Prim (1845); Panmure Head (1853); Seacow Head (1863); St. Peter’s (1865); North Cape (1866); East Point (1867); and Murray Harbour Front and Back Ranges (1869).

This was one of our favorites ~ you can stay there in the Inn that was once the Lighthouse keepers quarters

Summerside Lighthouse & Range Lights
Summerside is one of the little towns very close to where we were staying  ~ so we went over there quite a bit to eat and sight see. These lighthouse were very small ~ as most were... The Summerside Outer Range Lights, which began operation in 1991, are the most recent set of enclosed range lights to be established on Prince Edward Island. When properly aligned, the red range lights guide vessels to the mouth of Summerside Harbour, near the Indian Head Lighthouse, from where they can use the Summerside Range Lights to proceed up the harbor. The two lighthouses are similar in appearance, both being square, pyramidal towers topped by enclosed, square lantern rooms that are surrounded by a simple metal gallery. A white, trapezoidal daymark with a red vertical stripe is mounted on the seaward face of both towers. The front tower is 29.5 feet tall, while the rear tower is 33.2 feet tall. As the front tower is located near the shore at the western end of the harbour, its focal plane of  30.6 is roughly the same height as the tower. The focal plane of the rear range light is 48.5 feet.

Summerside Front Range Light ~ Indian Head Lighthouse ~ Summerside Back Range Light

Indian Head Lighthouse
Built in 1881 Indian Head Lighthouse is also known as the Summerside Lighthouse. The lighthouse has a very distinctive shape, not unusual in 1881, but now rare. This type of lighthouse was built on rocks or other places where there was little room for a separate keeper’s dwelling. It is an octagonal structure with a keeper’s dwelling at the base and a tower and lantern above that rises from the centre of the dwelling’s roof.
If you love Lighthouses as we do and you ever get up here you will enjoy the adventure and beauty of searching for these jewels along the coast...

Have Fun & Travel Safe