The lighthouse at Peggy's Point has occupied its granite perch since 1915, replacing an 1868 wooden tower that stood thirty metres inland. Erosion claimed the original foundation. The present octagonal concrete structure rises thirteen metres above mean sea level and remains the most photographed beacon in Canada, its red lantern visible twenty-four kilometres offshore. The Canadian Coast Guard automated the light in 1958. A Canada Post office operated inside the tower from 1964 to 2009, the only such facility within a working lighthouse in North America. Peggy's Cove sits at the mouth of St. Margaret's Bay, forty-three kilometres southwest of Halifax. The village takes its name from St. Margaret, though local folklore attributes it to the sole survivor of a shipwreck who married a resident and became known as Peggy. The fishing settlement numbered six families in 1811. Today thirty-three permanent residents live among the glacially scoured granite barrens that define the Eastern Shore. The bedrock here dates to the Devonian period, 400 million years old, smoothed by Pleistocene ice sheets and shaped by ten thousand years of North Atlantic weather. A halifax to peggy's cove bus tour departs the capital multiple times daily, following Route 333 through Hackett's Cove and Indian Harbour before reaching the headland. The coastal road opened in 1927, replacing the previous boat-only access. Swiss Air Flight 111 crashed five kilometres offshore in 1998; a memorial stands at Whalesback, two kilometres west of the lighthouse, where visitors leave stones on the granite slope. The site draws 700,000 people annually, making it Nova Scotia's most visited natural attraction after the Bay of Fundy tides. The lighthouse grounds remain open around the clock. No barriers separate visitors from the wave-cut platform, where sneaker waves have swept dozens into the Atlantic since 1977. Red-painted zones mark the splash line. Tidal range here averages 1.8 metres. Swells from offshore storms arrive with forty-eight hours' notice, their period lengthening as they cross the continental shelf. The bedrock's feldspar content gives it a pink cast in morning light. Harbour seals haul out on offshore ledges at low tide. Cormorants nest on the outer rocks from May through August. Operators running tours from Halifax include the Peggy's Cove Express, a small-group service departing twice daily, and evening departures timed for sunset between June and September. Standard lighthouse excursions allocate ninety minutes at the site. Coastal routes stop at Hackett's Cove and the Swissair memorial. Historic packages pair the lighthouse with Halifax Citadel or the Maritime Museum. Return to the city by mid-afternoon or after dusk, depending on the departure selected.