Cantwells’ Way: A Natural History of the Cape Spear Lightstation

In Cantwells’ Way, James E. Candow examines the relationship between people, place and technology at the Cape Spear Lightstation in Newfoundland and Labrador. Modern lighthouses and fog alarms were products of the new understandings of light and sound that emerged from the Scientific Revolution, so lightkeepers and their families were therefore in the vanguard of technological change in their communities. Despite this, they continued to practise traditional activities such as gardening and berry picking, which were part of the informal economy of rural Newfoundland. Life at the Cape Spear Lightstation reflected the underlying duality of Newfoundland society in the period.