The keeper of a lighthouse on Georgian Bay would spend the whole summer at his post, sometimes with his family, often miles away from the nearest land access. A lighthouse boat was therefore standard equipment. But without a serviceable set of oars, 2 or 4 on a tandem boat, he would be the open water equivalent of “up the creek without a paddle”. Georgian Bay Heritage League members learn the craft of fashioning an oar from a slab of lumber, in this case, a 10ft piece of pine, as they were made back then. 