Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are home to over two dozen active lighthouses. For over a century, these coastal beacons have guided ships through the fog and represented hope for countless mariners. Today, the lighthouses on BC’s southern islands are ideal destinations for day trippers and coastal explorers of all ages who are looking for historical sites in spectacular maritime settings.

To the Lighthouse: An Explorer’s Guide to the Island Lighthouses of Southwestern BC offers a comprehensive and fascinating look at these remarkable landmarks, blending practical information on location and accessibility with riveting facts, local lore, and gorgeous photography. From Fisgard Lighthouse, a National Historic Site at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour, to the remote west coast sentinels of Cape Beale and Pachena Point, and from the isolated Cape Mudge beacon on Quadra Island to the community-supported restoration project at Sheringham Point, this book celebrates a unique culture of public service passed down through generations. To the Lighthouse is a travelling companion like no other.

Peter Johnson has taught history, English, and creative writing in high schools and colleges in Canada for over thirty-five years. He has written several books on BC maritime history, including Glyphs and Gallows: The Rock Art of Clo-oose and the Wreck of the John Bright; Voyages of Hope: The Saga of the Bride-Ships; Quarantined: Life and Death at William Head Station, 1872–1959; and, with John Walls, To the Lighthouse: An Explorer’s Guide to the Island Lighthouses of Southwestern BC. He has also written and directed a documentary film on Lake Winnipeg, which was shown on CBC television, and published interpretive articles on Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and George Orwell’s 1984. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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John Walls was born in London, Ontario, in 1953, and lived in the Boston, Massachusetts, area for 30 years. He studied photography under Bart Parker at the University of Rhode Island. John is the current president of the Shirley Educational Action Society and a lifetime member of the Sheringham Lighthouse Preservation Society. He and his wife Diana currently reside on southern Vancouver Island, where he is an avid kayaker. They have two children, Jessica and Scott.

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