St. George's, Newfoundland and Labrador explained

St. George's, Newfoundland and Labrador should not be confused with Cape St. George, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Official Name:St. George's
Other Name:South Side, Little Bay
Settlement Type:Town
Pushpin Map:Newfoundland
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of St. George's in Newfoundland
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Canada
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Newfoundland and Labrador
Established Title:Settled
Established Date:18th century
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Daniel Conway [1]
Leader Title1:Governing body
Leader Name1:St.George's Town Council
Leader Title2:MHA
Leader Name2:Scott Reid (Lib)
Leader Title3:MP
Leader Name3:Gudie Hutchings (Lib)
Unit Pref:Metric
Population As Of:2021
Population Total:1,139
Timezone:Newfoundland Time
Utc Offset:-3:30
Timezone Dst:Newfoundland Daylight
Utc Offset Dst:-2:30
Coordinates:48.4275°N -58.4778°W
Area Code:709
Blank Name:Highways
Blank Info:
Website:St. George's official website

St. George's is a Canadian community in the St. George's Bay on the southwest coast of Newfoundland of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The community, originally known as South Side or Little Bay has its origins in the French fishery of the seventeenth century when the good natural harbour would attract fishermen to spend the summer in the area and return to France for the winter months. Permanently settled in the eighteenth century, the community remained a fishing village for nearly 200 years until the advent of the railroad. As of 2024, a large salt deposit has been found in the region and development proposals are underway. [2]

Mi'kmaq

Mi'kmaq villages in St. Georges Bay and Placentia existed in 1594.[3] [4] Jeannot Pequidalouet - the eastern Mi'kmaq chief of Cape Breton, who had previously overwintered in Newfoundland - began to create permanent settlements in St. George's Bay and Miawpukek in the 1760s.[5] [6] In May 1767 when James Cook was mapping Newfoundland coast, he met a tribe of Mi'kmaq in St. George's Bay.

Early fisheries

In the seventeenth century the French fishermen spent the summer months in St. Georges harbour and returned to France for the winter. They began to overwinter in the eighteenth century and St. Georges continued to be a fishing village "for nearly 200 years until the advent of the railroad."

After the railroad

The railroad came to Western Newfoundland in 1898, and because of the work that the railway created, as well as access to many different types of goods, many people from outlying communities flocked to St. George's. The town quickly became a major centre in Western Newfoundland. The town became a distributor of goods to the surrounding area and the Port au Port Peninsula. Lumbering, fishing and farming were the primary occupations and lobster plants also opened there. A brewery/distillery also operated there for a short time at the turn of the century. The community also became the seat of the magistrate in the area and a courthouse was constructed.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, St. George's had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 25.71km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[7]

Attractions

St. Georges once hosted an Annual Blueberry Festival every August at Blueberry Hill which ran for 25 consecutive years .

Sandy Point, located 3.5 kilometres south of Stephenville, is an uninhabited 2,471-acre (1,000-hectare) island of natural wealth in St. Georges Bay.[8]

Black Bank is a black sand beach and former provincial park with tree lined embankments.

See also

References

48.4275°N -58.4778°W

Notes and References

  1. https://townofstgeorges.com/municipality/mayors-message/
  2. Web site: Proposed Salt Mine . Government of NL.
  3. Stone, Helen. 1993. Living in time immemorial: Concepts of "time" and "time immemorial": Why Aboriginal rights theory is problematic in the courts and around the negotiating table. Master's thesis, Carleton University.
  4. Wetzel . Jerry . 1999 . The hidden Term of Union: Executive summary, confederation and federal abandonment of the Newfoundland Mi'kmaq . Newfoundland Quarterly . 92 . 4 . 23–28.
  5. Miapukek First Nation: Indian Act: We Got In, We Could Get Out . AFOA National Conference. February 25–27, 2014 . August 5, 2016.
  6. March 10, 1996, to April 2001
  7. Web site: Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Newfoundland and Labrador . . February 9, 2022 . March 15, 2022.
  8. Web site: NCC: Sandy Point . www.natureconservancy.ca . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120313180052/http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/newfoundland-and-labrador/featured-projects/sandy_point.html . 2012-03-13.