History
This peninsula’s story is one as old as time itself, its memories kept in rock and saltwater. This is a place reaching back millennia, to a time when continents cracked and parted, leaving land itself reaching out like a beckoning arm, stretched long into the sea. It is a truth that time feels different here, and perhaps it always did.
The first European settlers could surely tell, their rich stories etched into the fabric of modern-day Port de Grave. It was some five hundred years ago that the first of them found their way to these shores, led by the French who used the beaches to dry their catch as they braved the elements to fish bountiful nearby waters. Then followed the English who, by the end of the 16th century, had turned the stretch from Carbonear to Brigus (and between them, Port de Grave) into a major part of the English fishery.
From here, the story of the Port de Grave Peninsula is one of growth and change, faith and resilience, sharing and renewal. In a place that could show much majesty but little mercy, the brave souls who banded together to make this place home needed every ounce of those qualities to tame land and sea — or at least learn to live in harmony with it, and one another. Neighbour helping neighbour — a day, a year, a decade, a century at a time, the people of the Peninsula persevered and prospered.
The 17th century saw farming and fishing bring increasing prosperity for the residents of Port de Grave — prosperity that didn’t escape the attention of the French. They would have to recover and rebuild following attacks led by Le Moyne D’Iberville in both 1697 and 1706.
Through the 18th and 19th centuries came the Irish, bringing with them their experience and expertise in farming to cultivate the rocky peninsula, as well as Roman Catholicism. Offshore, the lure of abundant Labrador seas saw Port de Grave fishers venture further from home, while sealing became another important contributor to the Peninsula’s economy, along with the industry of building the ships that would carry brave fishers out onto cold and perilous waters. By the end of the 19th century, construction of the Green Point lighthouse served as a shining beacon of prosperity and the fervent activity off the Peninsula’s coast. Many local merchants, such as the Dawe’s, Jacob’s and Martin’s, Furneau’s, Johnson’s, Butler’s and Andrews were established on the Peninsula and their names well-known in the region.
By the early 1920s, the Labrador fishery had all but ended for Port de Grave captains and the 1930s saw salmon fishing in the early summer complimenting cod fishing in the late summer as a means for the people to make their livings. As the century wore on, the decline in fishing and sealing was mirrored by a decline in population, which fell as low as 123 by 1968.
Ever resilient and resourceful, residents turned to turbot and snow crab, continuing to support one another and maintain their connection to this special place. Today, the people of the Peninsula remain fiercely independent and self-sufficient, with a deep commitment to community. The place continues to produce provincial and national leaders in business, the arts, and government.
The Port de Grave Peninsula continues to reach, as it has for millennia, out into the swirling seas of the cold north Atlantic. A place that has stood strong through hundreds of years of trial, turmoil, success and survival for the people who have become as much a part of it as its most ancient rocks. The Peninsula offers its timeless beauty and in return demands the very best characteristics of its residents. As the raging waves have long shaped its coastline, so too has it forged in its people the qualities of innovation and self-reliance.
The people of the Port de Grave Peninsula are made of all this. They take great pride in their past and look forward to the future. In a place where time moves differently and rich history echoes off every ancient rock, visitors are always welcome to come and make memories of their own.
In a place where time moves differently and rich history echoes off every ancient rock, visitors are always welcome to come and make memories of their own.
How far back would you like to delve?
1500s — First settlers
Late-1500s By the late 1500’s Conception Bay had come into the sphere of English shore-based migratory fishers. In fact, the Daw (Dawe) family property at Ship Cove is said to have been occupied by that family from 1595. That Port de Grave was the major fishing centre in Conception Bay was a factor in selecting Cupids (just across the Bay) as the site of Newfoundland’s first chartered colony in 1610.
1600s — Farming and fishing
Mid-1600s The original settlers were from Devon and Cornwall, and included the Andrews, Anthony, Coveyduck, Porter, Taylor, and Tucker families, who arrived in the mid-1600s. Another renowned family name was Daw (later Dawe’s) — they were fishing along the Peninsula when John Guy arrived to establish Cuppers Cove-Cupids
1667 By 1667 there were 57 residents who fished and farmed here.
1675 When the first Newfoundland “census” was taken in 1675 the major resident “planter” at Port de Grave was Thomas Butler, who had 20 servants, 50 head of cattle and pastured his sheep at Cupids. It has been conjectured that Thomas may have been a descendent of Cupids colonist Samuel Butler. In addition to being the ancestral home of the Butler and Daw families, the Port de Grave Peninsula was home to some of Newfoundland’s earliest outport settlers – including the Andrew, Anthony, Morgan, Mugford, Porter, Snow and Tucker families. Later generations of these families moved on as pioneer settlers throughout Conception Bay and elsewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador.
1697 This prosperity of the Peninsula reached the ears of the French who viewed Conception Bay as one of the richest areas of Newfoundland. Port de Grave was destroyed by French raiders under Le Moyne D’Iberville in 1697 and 1705, with the settlers taking refuge at Kelly’s Island and Little Bell Island. Both times the fishing settlement was quickly rebuilt. There were nearly 200 settlers in the Port de Grave area in 1698.
1700s — Cultivating the Peninsula
1715 There was an influx of Irish immigrants in the early 1700s and, by 1715, there were 91 Roman Catholics. Many Irish farmers immigrated in the early 1800s and were employed by English fishermen until they could afford to move from the rocky fishing settlements to the more fertile farmland along river valleys.
Mid-1700s From the mid-1700’s numerous English and Scottish fishing and fishery supply firms made their Newfoundland headquarters on the Port de Grave Peninsula, and for the next hundred years this area was one of the commercial centres of Newfoundland. Prominent merchant houses of the day included: Newman & Co. of Dartmouth, Devon; Lang and Baine (later Baine Johston) of Greenock, Scotland; Pinsents of Teignmouth, Devon; and Robert Prowse of St. Marychurch, Devon.
1800s — Growing the community
1812 Most merchants relocated to St. John’s in the 1820s including some major businesses with origins in Port de Grave. Baine-Johnston actually started as Robert Baine & Co. in Port de Grave in 1780 and became Long, Baine & Co. when Thomas Long entered the business. Their property was sold to the Andrews in 1812, but in 1817 Walter Baine and William Johnston bought land for a fishing business between Ship Cove and Port de Grave and. Baine-Johnston operated from the new premises after 1817.
1833 Port de Grave residents ventured further from home to fish off Labrador in the 1820s and they were also prominent in the seal fishery. In 1833, 79 sealing vessels left the harbors on the Port de Grave peninsula and in 1835 Port de Grave itself sent 18 vessels for seals. A total of 386 men were involved that year and in 1837 Bay Roberts and Port de Grave together sent 83 of the 206 sealing ships to the Front.
1840 Captain Robert (Bob) Morgan fished on Wester Rock in ~1840. They would fish in early Spring around Cape St. Mary’s, and then go to Cape John then to Labrador and then back home to Conception Bay. The Port-De-Grave “Lucy” fished in these same waters in later years.
1855 When Newfoundland achieved responsible Government in 1855, the electoral district for this area was named Port de Grave – following the example of the judicial district established in 1835.
1860-1882 Port de Grave and nearby Ship Cove were major ship-building communities. Nine vessels were built in Port de Grave from 1860 to 1882, and several local families were involved in wilding and buying schooners. The average length of schooners in the community was 56 feet and the average tonnage 35 tons.
1857 440 lived in Port de Grave.
1875 A new church was built in 1875 for a congregation of 200 and consecrated in November 1878. Bishop Feild was also concerned about the loss of parishioners to the growing Methodist church built in 1873. The Salvation Army arrived in the late 1800s and had 28 members by 1935. Their barracks was located opposite the Anglican rectory.
1878 During the last two decades of the 1800s the seal fishery brought prosperity to the peninsula. Captain Charles Dawe of the SS Greenland brought in 318,790 seals from 1878 while serving as the member for Harbour Grace.
1883 The increased activity on the Peninsula brought on the need for a lighthouse, built at Green Point in 1883.
1884 By 1884 over thirty percent of the population of Port de Grave district spent each summer on the Labrador coast, mostly in the Black Tickle area. The Labrador fishery continued to be a major source of income for local fishing families until the 1920’s. In 1884 only the Meteor with 25 men aboard left port and got 560 seals but 89 men fished the Labrador and one banking vessel was listed for 1891.
1891 Port de Grave (and adjoining Sandy Cove) had a population of 441 in 1891 when Port de Grave itself listed 95 fishermen and 36 fishermen/farmers. Among the Port de Grave families, most heads of household were listed as inshore or Labrador fishermen, but there were two miners and a clerk, merchant, government employee and sealing captain. Sandy Cove also had a carpenter and a mail carrier. The Labrador and seal fisheries, the coastal fishery and mining were all important in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
1900s — Decline in fishing and sealing
1909 Captain Henry Dawe of the SS Leopard brought in 106,685 seals in 1878-95 and began a general store in 1909 that now is the main business in Port de Grave.
1921 There were four vessels and 63 men still sealing by 1921 but the Labrador fishery had ended for Port de Grave captains, although residents continued to join crews leaving from other ports up until the 1950s.
1921 By 1921, Port de Grave had only Methodist and Church of England schools. The United church school closed in 1966 and three Church of England schools remained until the 1950s when a new one-room school was built at Ship Cove.
1930s Salmon fishing was important in May and June in the 1930s with cod in July and August. The local fish plant was built by George Dawe in the 1930s and operated by his family.
1950s The revival of the Port de Grave inshore and nearshore fishing in the 1950’s was based on the development of the “Port de Grave longliner” (1956), the opening of a fresh fish plant (1962) and the opening of a crab processing plant (1975).
1960s Cod provided most income prior to 1950 with boats under 35 feet and cod traps the normal method. After Confederation, subsidies encouraged the building of vessels up to 50 feet. In the 1960s Port de Grave fishermen were among the most technically advanced in the province. Some 4,850 quintals of cod were landed from traps and 350 quintals were added from the fall fishery.
1968 The population declined to 213 by 1968.
1976 After 1976 gillnetting was more popular and there was more interest in the turbot and crab fisheries. The snow crab fishery, which started in the 1970s, was a major fishery in the early 1980s, but catches have declined in recent years.
1990s In the 1990’s, Port de Grave’s newly developed harbour became home to one of the province’s major fleets of multi-purpose vessels.
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