The West Point Lighthouse was constructed in 1875 and was first lit on May 21, 1876. With a total height of 20.6 meters (67 feet 8 inches) from ground to vane, West Point Lighthouse is the tallest and most pleasing of the square design lighthouses on the Island. The lighthouse combines distinctive architecture, folklore, shipwrecks and dramatic scenery on the Western entrance to the Northumberland Strait.

Located on the southwestern tip of Prince Edward Island, West Point Lighthouse is a square tapered wooden tower. As the first lighthouse built by the federal government on the Island, the lighthouse is associated with the transfer of responsibility for aids to navigation from the colonial government to the new Federal Department of Marine. A design change from octagonal to square towers coincided with the changeover.

Wood frame lighthouse towers in Canada generally exhibited octagonal, hexagonal or square forms, which tapered toward the top. The square design of West Point came into vogue in the late 1860's and lasted into the 1900's.

It consists of a square tapered tower of frame construction, set on stone foundations, with windows placed centrally in each façade and shingled on the exterior. Apart from smaller harbour lights, the design commonly included an attached 1 ½ story, gable roofed house with a lean-to storage shed. 

Aesthetically, the square wood tower never assumed the flare or grace projected by octagonal or hexagonal types, but like all lighthouse forms, regardless of materials, it increased in majesty with height. Not surprisingly then, it is to its substantial height that the West Point tower owes much of its design success. The tower itself is 20.6 meters (67' 8"), tapering from 8.8 meters (29 feet) square at the bottom to 3.6 meters (12 feet) square at the platform.

The alternate broad horizontal bands of black and white on the tower exterior are purposely startling for the tower itself acts as an aid to navigation along with the light. The structure was originally painted with red and white bands but since 1915 the government has used black paint maintaining that it has greater resistance to fading and is thus more visible from a distance.

The West Point Lighthouse tower was built using the standard building techniques of the day. The gray sandstone foundation stands on a cribwork of cedar logs to prevent sinking. The timber framing is strong and simple, consisting of heavy corner posts 33 cm (13 inches) square at the ground story tapering to 25 cm (10 inches) square at the fourth level. Corner bracing above and below each floor and studs are placed at 40 cm (16 inch) centers. The walls are sheathed with diagonal boarding and shingled. Such straight forward framing with its economy in lumber could account for the ultimate popularity of the square design.

The original layout at West Point integrated the keeper's accommodations with his light tending functions. The first two of the four floors in the tower were plastered and subdivided as extensions of the living space in the attached dwelling. The first floor housed a large parlour and two closets. The second floor housed two bedrooms. Doors in each level provided access to the attached dwelling. Straight flights of stairs along the east wall connected each floor.

Running through the center of the tower from the first story to the top was a long shaft housing the weights which operated the clockwork mechanism for rotating the light (prior to electrification). There was also a dumbwaiter to carry fuel to the fourth floor. This combined working and living plan ensured continual vigilance of the light with relative ease.

During the 87 years the light was manually operated, there were just two keepers: William MacDonald from 1875 to 1925 and Benny MacIsaac from 1925 until 1963. These men were from the local community. Interpretive displays in the tower museum recall their lives, and some of their furniture such as the MacDonald cradle, has made its way back to the lighthouse.