Ferryland's lighthouse is shining bright for the first time in 5 years

A shining light on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula has fully reopened for the first time in five years, which one business owner says will help the region shine even brighter.

The Ferryland Lighthouse has faced several hurdles and partial closures in recent years, closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then facing a second long-term closure when the building was severely damaged by Hurricane Larry in 2021.

Jill Curran, the owner of Lighthouse Picnics operating out of the lighthouse, said it led to tough questions having to be asked about the future of her business.

"We accumulated, unfortunately, a lot of debt trying to work around that," Curran told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.

"It was just so hard, and I'm so appreciative of all the people that stayed with us. Because we continued to operate, but each year we looked different as we figured things out."

Now, five years after the start of the pandemic and four years after the hurricane, the lighthouse has been fully reopened and business is back in full swing.

"It's Lighthouse Picnics, so the lighthouse is a key ingredient to what we're doing out there," she said.

"Five years was a really long time. And there was many times, you know, we just kind of hit roadblock after roadblock. [We] stumbled, and it was just like, 'Is it ever going to happen?' And so it's just been amazing, we've just been so happy with the feedback."

Curran said years of work had to go into getting the lighthouse reopened. It still had its original structure from its construction in 1870 at the time of the hurricane, which was pounded by wind and surf to the point where it began to crumble.

Heavy structural work had to be completed, which was complicated by large-scale supplies needing to be brought in on a narrow, gravel road.

Now the work has been finished, Curran said she's beyond excited to welcome people back to the lighthouse that has been in her family for generations.

"It was a real labour of love, and it means the world to me to see it so accepted by visitors and the community," she said.

"It just gives me so much hope to see the building open again. Its breathed life into our business again. And so I think our lighthouse, and so many historic buildings around the province, are really a way for us to pay tribute to those that came before us."

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