The first Pictou lighthouse, built in 1834, was a wooden octagonal tower 16.5 metres (55 feet) high from the base to the weathervane. In 1903, however, it was destroyed by fire. Because of the importance of the lighthouse, construction of a new lighthouse began immediately on the same site and put into service by the end of the year 1903. It is also an octagonal wooden tower, 2 metres (6 feet) shorter but otherwise quite similar to the previous lighthouse and with the same light characteristics. It is painted in alternate red and white vertical stripes and surmounted by an octagonal red iron lantern.