1830 Watercolour of Snake Island and the Lower Gap Ontario Archives Reference 10002212
Snake Islandis a low bar of sand and bush off Simcoe Island's Four Mile Point. Vessels may find safe passage to Kingston from the Lower Gap either between Snake and Simcoe islands, or between Snake Island and the mainland. Over the years, Snake Island has claimed more than its share of unwary vessels, not all of which survived.
Today, surrounded by shoals and shallows, the island is far more difficult to see than the navigation buoys surrounding it. This was not always so. In 1858, the Board of Works erected a stone tower on Snake Island at a cost of some 3000 pounds. The lantern was 35 feet above the lake level and, with a lens six feet in diameter, shone a steady red light which was visible for six miles.
In 1879 Mr. Nathaniel Orr was the keeper of Snake Island light, drawing an annual salary of $489. He raised a family of ten. In the fall of that same year a September north west gale knocked down the solitary elm tree which had stood on Snake Island for over a century and served as a landmark for mariners.
Sadly, in May 1888 both Nathaniel Orr and his wife died from pneumonia brought on from falling through the ice returning from a trip to Kingston.
The original light was replaced in 1900 by a white, octagonal wooden tower, 39 ft tall, with a seventh-order lens. This light was also fixed red, with a 6-mile range. But by 1936, it was no longer mentioned.
According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 1,344 Double-crested Cormorants nested on Snake Island in 2000, In 2001, 1,160 cormorant nests were counted there.
