Cape Bear Lighthouse group hopes Titanic tie will help it land $50K grand prize

The volunteer group that operates P.E.I.'s Cape Bear Lighthouse and Marconi Station is hoping the site's connection to the Titanic will help attract votes in a national competition, with a $50,000 grand prize on the line.

This is the second year for the Next Great Save, organized by the National Trust for Canada, with 12 finalists vying for a total of $65,000 in prize money. 

The National Trust selected the finalists from applications from across Canada, with groups pitching projects to restore heritage places like the eastern Prince Edward Island lighthouse. 

"This could really do a lot to jump-start some of our plans," board president Valerie MacPherson said of the $50,000. "But the first step is to win the prize, get things rolling."

MacPherson said the board has just completed a five-year business plan, and the prize money would help with the first phase of that this summer: moving a small building closer to the lighthouse to create a new exhibit space.

"We're going to put an expansion on it, make it accessible, and it will be known as the Marconi Hall," she said. "That will allow us to present some experiences, some workshops, and it can also be used as a community space."

MacPherson said the group is planning to have the building insulated for year-round use. In all, the five-year project will cost more than $1.2 million. 

MacPherson said her group hopes the site's connection to the Titanic's sinking in 1912 will help spark interest in the Cape Bear renovation project. 

"The evening when the Titanic sank, our wireless operator who was working, his name was Thomas Bartlett, and [this] was the first land base in Canada to receive the distress call," MacPherson said. 

"He was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, wasn't sure it was true, but he did what he should have done and he forwarded the information to others to see if they could do whatever they could to try to help."

The distress call was also received at Cape Race station on the southeastern tip of Newfoundland, but that island was not part of Canada when Titanic sank back in 1912.

MacPherson said the artifacts connected to the Marconi Station are currently packed away in the building the group hopes to move. 

She said visitors to the lighthouse are eager to hear more about the Titanic connection. 

"They get pretty excited, and right now we don't have enough space to share it properly and that's part of what expanding and adding the building will do," she said.