A New Beacon On The Shore.
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In early August of 2006, DSWAC president John Shaw-Rimmington built this Alban beacon on the Canadian Atlantic Coast . This installation was erected for Farley and Claire Mowat on their property near St Peter's Nova Scotia. John and his wife Mary, and Irv, a local lobster fisherman and good friend of Farley's, gathered suitable rocks from below high tide mark and assembled them into a unique 8 foot tall dry stone pillar on a point of land within view of the Mowat residence. The Beacon was to replicate one of the many dry laid structures built by a pre-Viking people, who according to Farley Mowat came to Canada in search of walrus skins and tusks in fragile hide covered double- enders from early Britain. According to his fascinating book 'The Farfarers', many ancient conical piles of stacked stones or 'Tower Beacons', (much like this newer reproduction) can still be found in Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland and other parts of Arctic Canada. They stand from 7 to 14 feet high and range from four to 6 feet wide. Each dry stone tower has a unique shape. Often these towers are found in groups or pairs and it is believed they were erected as markers to help ancient sea-faring people find their way around the indistinguishably riddled shoreline. The beacons looked different enough in shape or in groupings to discern them individually, so that the walrus hunters would know their precise location along the coast. This newly built dry stone beacon not only adds a sense of history and mystery to the rugged Canadian coastal scenery, it stands as a more accessible tribute to our prehistoric dry stone heritage.

Submitted by A DSWAC Member