Rose Blanche Lighthouse

Rose Blanche is literally at the end of the road. It’s about as far east as you can drive along the southern coast from Port aux Basque. To get further east requires a person ferry or a lot of driving!

What this coast lacks in roads is made up for in splendid scenery reminiscent of the south coast of Labrador around Blanc-Sablon; lots of lakes, rocky and rugged coastlines, and a distinctly tundra like flora.

The lighthouse itself is also a beautiful piece of history. Built in 1873 from locally quarried granite, this stout structure was born from the pleas of a fishing community seeking safer passage through the fog-laced waters of the North Atlantic.

The lighthouse’s design was guided by the renowned Scottish engineers David and Thomas Stevenson, relatives of famed author Robert Louis Stevenson. Their fourth-order dioptric lens cast a steady white light from a height of 95 feet above sea level, visible for up to 13 miles in clear weather. Keeper John A. Roberts lit the lamp for the first time on January 1, 1874.Read more