'The whole island is heaven': U.S. couple considering parting ways with isle off Cape Breton’s coast

'The whole island is heaven': U.S. couple considering parting ways with isle off Cape Breton’s coast

Husband and wife looking for buyers who will keep remote island as untouched as possible

William F. Baker and his wife have owned Henry Island for the past 35 years, but now at 84 years old he wants to sell the nearly 90-hectare island to someone who will preserve it.

Henry Island is a 20-minute boat ride from Port Hood, N.S. It features a four-bedroom family home and a fully functioning lighthouse installed on the island in 1901.

The Bakers bought it in 1991 and use the island as a getaway from their busy lives in New York City.

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Baker built an acclaimed career as a broadcaster in the U.S. He was the president of the PBS flagship station in New York for 20 years. Before that, he was president of Westinghouse Television, where he helped launch Oprah Winfrey's talk show career.

But both he and his wife, Jeannemarie Gelin-Baker, a nurse practitioner, were searching for a more peaceful way of life when they found Henry Island.

Baker was enamoured with lighthouses and wanted to own an island. A colleague suggested he look at Canada's East Coast.

"Lighthouses are pretty special,” Baker says. “They represent the very best of humanity, really selfless, helping others with no payment in return. That's what a lighthouse stands for, and that's what the lighthouse has meant over the centuries. So being part of all that, it's virtually religious."

The Bakers fell in love with Henry Island because of its natural beauty and quiet. It's surrounded by beaches and rugged cliffs, and the only inhabitants besides the Bakers are the wildlife that makes their home in the woods.

"For the first time I saw the full Milky Way,” says Gelin-Baker. “It was exotic. It was beautiful."

Baker says repairs were needed on the lighthouse and the home.

With help from local residents, the house is now fully renovated and is run completely off the grid. They use rainwater for drinking water, solar panels for power and an outhouse.

"We'd come every year and spend two or three weeks repairing and fixing and painting and all,” Baker says. “But it was such a powerful distraction. It took my mind off of all my work in New York City and the pressure of the film and TV business."

He eventually wrote a book about his family's experience on the island called Lighthouse Island: Our Family Escape.

The Bakers escape to Henry Island in August every year.

It's become a tradition for them to invite people from the Port Hood area to visit their island retreat. Some people like Donald MacDonald have become regular visitors.

MacDonald is the president of the Henry Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, a volunteer group that looks after the lighthouse.

"We're over here a lot on an island. But we enjoyed it,” MacDonald says. “It's kind of a labour of love and doesn't matter what the job is, it's just a nice place to be. It's quiet, we enjoy it."

Baker says owning a remote island is a lot of work, and they spent most of their early years renovating the space. But now the couple is finding it difficult to keep up with the maintenance.

But Baker says it will be difficult to part with his beloved island.

“People say, ‘Well, how often do you get to Henry Island? Only once a year?’ I said ‘I get there every day of my life. I'm thinking about Henry Island,’” Baker says. “And so we don't want to sell it. But I'm going to be 85 years old soon. My children are not available. They love it, but they're just not available to maintain it. "

It's been on the market for the last two years for nearly $7 million Cdn.

Their agent, Angie Bryant with Sotheby's International Realty Canada, says there's been interest from people in Ontario, the U.S. and Germany.

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"It's actually become quite popular to see islands selling,” Bryant says. “There's a couple of islands that have sold off the coast of Mahone Bay just recently. Over the course of the last year, islands have become a popular topic for buyers."

She says the island will continue to be marketed on their website and will appear in magazines dedicated to preserving lighthouses, hopefully to attract people interested in owning the beacon.

The Bakers want to find a buyer who will keep Henry Island as untouched as possible.

“So something has to be done, and it's too precious just to close the door and let it sit and rot. We're not gonna let that happen.”

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Ethan Hunt is a reporter for CBC Nova Scotia from Lunenburg, N.S. He regularly covers sports, the environment and mental health matters. You can reach him at ethan.hunt@cbc.ca.