Whitbourne is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
on the
Avalon Peninsula in
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, Canada in
Division 1.
History
Whitbourne, Newfoundland's first inland town, is named after Sir
Richard Whitbourne, one of the most colourful early
settlers
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area.
A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer.
Settle ...
of
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
who wrote a book about Newfoundland that was published in 1620. Sir Richard was appointed by the
High Court of the Admiralty to set up the first English law court in the New World in 1615 in
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
. He was kidnapped and held by the notorious
Pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
Peter Easton
Peter Easton ( – 1620 or after) was a pirate in the early 17th century. The 'most famous English pirate of the day', his piracies ranged from Ireland and Guinea to Newfoundland. He is best known today for his involvement in the early En ...
in Harbour Grace. He also described a
mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
that he saw in
St. John's harbour. Later, he became governor of
Renews
Renews–Cappahayden is a small fishing town on the southern shore of Newfoundland, south of St. John's.
The town was incorporated in the mid-1960s by amalgamating the formerly independent villages of Renews and Cappahayden.
Renews–Cappaha ...
on the Southern Shore.
Whitbourne, unlike most communities on the Island of Newfoundland is inland. It was founded in about 1880 during the construction of the
Newfoundland Railway
The Newfoundland Railway operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of , it was the longest narrow-gauge railway system in North America.
Early construction
]
In 1880, a committee of the Newfoundland Leg ...
. The railway continued to be an important employer in the Town until its abandonment in 1988, although its economic significance declined gradually throughout the twentieth century.
Sir
Robert Bond
Sir Robert Bond (25 February 1857 – 16 March 1927) was the last Premier of Newfoundland Colony from 1900 to 1907 and the first prime minister of the Dominion of Newfoundland from 1907 to 1909 after the 1907 Imperial Conference conferred d ...
, the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
from 1900 to 1909, played a role in the expansion and planning of the Town and developed an elaborate country home, the "Grange", there. The house is no longer in existence, but part of the estate is now Sir Robert Bond Park, which is noted for an unusual abundance of northern lichens including the relatively rare
Degelia plumbea
''Degelia plumbea'' (also called blue felt lichen) is a species of grey to blue-black or brown foliose lichen in the genus ''Degelia''. It mostly grows on trees in undisturbed woodlands but occasionally on coastal rocks. It is found widely in Bri ...
or blue felt lichen
Degelia.
Present day
The town of Whitbourne is located just off the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...
on Route 81. It is located at the centre of three possible routes to visit the
Avalon Peninsula. Route 80 is one of the two entrances to the Baccalieu Trail, Route 100 and Route 81 lead to the Marine Atlantic Ferry Service in Argentia and other parts of Placentia and St. Mary's Bays, and Route 1, the Trans Canada leads towards the second entrance to the
Baccalieu Trail
Route 70, also known as Roaches Line and Conception Bay Highway, is a north-south highway on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. The highway also carries the designation of Baccalieu Trail for its entire length.
Route description
Route 70 b ...
and the capital city of St. John's. As a result, there is a Provincial Visitor Information Centre on the Trans Canada near the town.
Whitbourne has many of the amenities of a small town that has traditionally been a regional service centre. The town's
Wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
Conservation Trail is of interest to many visitors.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Whitbourne had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Notable people
*
Shannon Tweed
Shannon Lee Tweed Simmons (born March 10, 1957) is a Canadian actress and model. One of the most successful actresses of mainstream erotica, she is identified with the genre of the erotic thriller. Tweed has appeared in more than 60 films and in ...
See also
*
Long Harbour Nickel Processing Plant
The Long Harbour Nickel Processing Plant is a Canadian nickel concentrate processing facility located in Long Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Operated by Vale Limited, construction on the plant started in April 2009 and operations began in 2 ...
*
List of cities and towns in Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the ninth-most populous province in Canada, with 510,550 residents recorded in the 2021 Canadian Census, and is the seventh-largest in land area, with . Newfoundland and Labrador has 278 municipalities, including 3 ...
References
* ''Towns of Trinity Bay'' The Baccalieu Trail Tourism Association, with permission from Webmaster.
{{Subdivisions of Newfoundland and Labrador, towns=yes, ICG=yes
Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador