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Historic Sites
National Historic Sites / Provincial Historic Sites
Port au Choix National Historic Site
For nearly four thousand years, the community, located on the Point Riche Peninsula, was a crossroads for nativegroups, attracted by the abundant marine resources.
Port au Choix is especially rich in traces of ancient aboriginal cultures. The National Historic Site preserves one of the most significant Maritime Archaic Indians sites in North America, along with Dorset and Groswater Eskimo communities that are some of the richest found to date, with superb examples of bone implements, weapons, and tools.
For many years, it was known that Dorset Eskimos had lived in the area. Archaeological excavations at Phillip's Garden, near the present-day community, offered important information about the Dorset settlement. In 1967, the discovery of a Maritime Archaic Indian burial ground attracted keen interest from the archaeological community. Human remains, tools, and weapons covered in red ochre were some of the artifacts identified. Burials from the site were estimated to be between 3,200 and 4,300 years old.
The climate, geography, and soil conditions have worked together to preserve pieces of ancient culture. Tools, weapons, clothing, household utensils and ornaments have survived for thousands
of years, buried in the peat beds that line the coast. The land mass has been rising steadily since the last ice age, and sea level has been dropping. The site was once on a beach at the water's edge. Archaeologists continue to study the artifacts unearthed at Port au Choix and to investigate new sites along this rich coastline.For more information visit the Parks Canada Port au Choix National Historic Site website.
L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site
Five hundred years before Christopher Columbus was credited with discovering the New World, a group of Vikings had already settled at L'Anse aux Meadows, near the tip of the Northern Peninsula.Evidence from the sagas, the written record of the Vikings' journey to the New World, indicates that the settlers who came included women and that livestock
were brought to the site. From a small encampment at L'Anse aux Meadows, they probably set sail for lands as far south as New Brunswick and into the St. Lawrence River. Its sod buildings are the earliest known European structures on the continent; its smithy, the site of the first known iron working in the New World; the site itself was the scene of the first contacts between native Americans and Europeans.
The name "L'Anse aux Meadows" originates from the French migratory fishermen in the area during the 1800s and 1900s who named the site "L'Anse aux Meduses," which translates to "Jellyfish Bay." L'Anse aux Meadows is the result of English corruption of the French name based on local topography. The physical landscape in the area tends to be open, with meadows, hence the change in pronunciation and meaning.
The story of the Vikings' stay at L'Anse aux Meadows is told at the Visitor Centre. There are artifacts on display, along with a model of the site which illustrates how it may have looked at the time of the Norse. The remains of the Norse buildings, restored as they were when discovered by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad, and three full-scale replicas of these sod huts are just a short walk from the Visitor Centre.
For more information visit the Parks Canada L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site website.
Red Bay National Historic Site
The first industrial complex in Canada was based at Red Bay in the 16th century. By 1550, the Basques had established a major whaling enterprise in the northwest Atlantic that include the Strait of Belle Isle and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Anisland in the middle of Red Bay, named Saddle Island for its distinctive shape, was the centre of the Basque whaling operation that is believed to have been one of the most important of its kind in the world during the last half of the 16th century. At its peak, more than 1,000 men worked at the Red Bay site harvesting right whale, bowhead whale, and perhaps other whale species in order to supply oil to the lamps of Europe.
In the early 1970s, historical geographer Selma Barkham discovered information on the location of Red Bay and many other Basque whaling stations while studying 16th century Basque legal documents in northern Spain. Underwater and land-based archaeological excavations took place at Red Bay during the 1980s, where evidence was uncovered of a substantial whaling operation. A Basque cemetery was located, as well as three sunken galleons and several oil rendering ovens.
Today, these discoveries are explained in a modern visitor centre, along with artifacts found during the excavations. The centre also includes a small theatre. Another nearby building holds a restored chalupa, one of the small boats the Basques used to hunt whales.
For more information visit the Parks Canada Red Bay National Historic Site website.
Battle Harbour National Historic Site
What was once the headquarters of the lucrative Labrador fishery has been restored as a tourist attraction and national historic site. The community, which is accessible only by air or water from mid-July to September is now a restored 19th century fishing village. Located on a small island in the Labrador sea, just north of the Strait of Belle Isle, Battle Harbour is an ideal destination for the adventure tourist interested in history, nature, rugged and spectacular scenery, and the annual movement of majestic icebergs down the Labrador coast each June and July.The waterfront buildings are reminiscent of an era now past, but retain the sights and smells of years gone by and an impressive collection of fishery-related artifacts.
An interpretation centre tells the story of the community and its people. The ocean vistas and craggy rock outcrops are a dramatic backdrop for the small wooden church and houses that dot the landscape. Battle Harbour's hub is the wharf and waterfront premises: rustic, wooden and shingle-clad buildings erected by English and Newfoundland-based merchants in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The waterfront was the setting of much bustle and activity - the landing of marine resources harvested by local fishers, the processing of cod, salmon, seals and herring, the production of barrels, the packaging of fish products, the mending of nets, and everywhere, saltfish, saltfish, and more saltfish.
Major restoration work at Battle Harbour was completed in 1997. The site works were overseen by the Battle Harbour Historic Trust, a registered charity founded in 1990 to aid the nearby communities of Mary's Harbour, St. Lewis and Lodge Bay in the revitalization of Battle Harbour. Twenty structures are now restored and walkways, wharves, and decking have been reinstated.
For more information visit the Parks Canada Battle Harbour National Historic Site website.
Provincial Historic Sites
Grenfell Historic Properties
This complex celebrates the life of famed medical missionary Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who came to Labrador in the 1890s to provide medical care to the desperately poor fishermen of the Labrador coast. He later shifted to St. Anthony, where he and many dedicated people provided medical care to northern Newfoundland and Labrador. Today, his life is the subject of a new interpretation centre at St. Anthony. The centre is also home to Grenfell Handicrafts. Also located in St. Anthony is the Dock House Museum. The dock house was originally built in 1929 and has been restored to its original look. The building was used to repair Grenfell Mission boats.
For more information visit the Grenfell Historic Properties website,
or email info@grenfell-properties.com
Point Amour Lighthouse
The tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada and the second tallest in the country, Point Amour is designated a provincial historic site. The lighthouse is 109 feet from the ground to the light itself, and is constructed of local limestone. The walls at the base of the light tower are about six feet thick, with the foundations carried down to solid rock. Point Amour was and still is a strategic location for shipping through the Strait of Belle Isle, on a shipping lane between Canada and Europe. Point Amour has been the site of numerous shipwrecks, including HMS Raleigh. The site provides an excellent vantage point for observing whales, sea birds, and other marine life.The stone tower and lightkeeper's residence were constructed in 1857, and in subsequent years, several buildings were added, including an oil shed, storage shed, fog alarm building, a second dwelling, and in 1967, a third dwelling. The buildings inside the enclosure at Point Amour have been restored. The lightkeeper's residence now houses an extensive series of exhibits portraying the maritime history of the Labrador Straits.
For more information visit the Labrador Coastal Drive website.
