Woods Island is an island in the Canadian province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

. It contains an abandoned town with the same name.

Geography

As the largest natural island in the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for ...

at over 2000 acres in size, Woods Island is at the heart of the

Humber Arm The Humber Arm is the southernmost arm of the Bay of Islands on the west coast of Newfoundland. The arm has the highest concentration of fresh water of the entire bay, due to inflow of the Humber River. The Humber is one of the major rivers on t ...

. Lying approximately 2.5 miles from the nearest mainland at Frenchman's Cove or 3.5 miles to the town of

McIvers McIvers is a town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The town had a population of 575 in the Canada 2021 Census. The town celebrated its Come Home Year in 2017, following a successful Chase the Ace fundraiser the previous ye ...

in the Humber River Basin area. The Humber Basin area is characterized by the existence of several harbours, coves, islands and the large Humber River. The Humber River, a few miles downward from Woods Island, is the main geographic draw for its settlers. It extends approximately 150 km from Woods Island towards Deer Lake and is surrounded by the boreal forest. The Humber River is rich in salmon and can easily be paddled upward from its head. Settlement in Woods Island is primarily centered around the harbour area of the island which is generally protected from the open ocean and the elements such as wind, rain and waves. However, there is a smaller settlement in the Innismara area of the island, and a former settlement on the south of the island at Tibbo's (Thibault's) Cove. Woods Island Harbour is characterized by a well protected anchorage for small schooners and fishing boats. A sandbar across the entrance of the harbour restricts any vessels above this size. The physical island is low in elevation, with the highest peak only reaching 200 feet above sea level and there is a slight ridge in the center of the island. Parts of the shoreline of the island are characterized by rocky cliffs of 20 to 40 feet high. Woods Island is well timbered by spruce and fir trees, with the occasional swamp found in various places around the island. The island itself is composed of

ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

s and

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s. A thin slice of

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

created by the ocean covers the western two-thirds of Woods Island, this is where the soil is best used for agriculture. There are no bodies of water on Woods Island so therefore all water was obtained during occupation through surface wells typically of a depth of a couple feet to up to approximately 30 feet. These wells did not dry up other than a few instances on the Northeastern section of the island.

History

Woods Island was used seasonally by European settlers at least from the 1780s and the Mi'kmaq before that.

Demographics

The island was home to a peak population of 502 in 1951.

Economy

The fishery, particularly the

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

fishery, was the main occupation of most of the male residents of the community.

Ethnic Origin and Religion

The island was home to both

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

and

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

residents. The primary religion in the 20th century was

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, with

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

being a minority. In 1953, there was Roman Catholic Church, a Catholic Recreation Hall and a resident Catholic priest and in comparison Woods Island only had one Anglican church with no minister present.

Culture

The fishery is intertwined with the culture which is a mix of Irish and Celtic influences.

Climate

Woods Island experiences a typical Newfoundland climate.

External links

The Mobile Homes of Benoit's CoveWoods Island Facebook PageWoods Island Resettlement House and Historic Centre

References

{{reflist Ghost towns in Newfoundland and Labrador Islands of Newfoundland and Labrador