Winterton 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 ...

in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

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 ...

. It was originally named Sille Cove or Scilly Cove. In 1912 the town was named Winterton for Sir James Spearman Winter, former Prime Minister of Newfoundland. Winterton is located on Winterton Cove off Trinity Bay on the western side of the

Avalon Peninsula The Avalon Peninsula (french: Péninsule d'Avalon) is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland. It is in size. The peninsula is home to 270,348 people, about 52% of Newfoundland's population, according ...

on Newfoundland's east coast. Its bedrock is

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

-era gray and black

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

. The soil is a very stony, acidic loam with classic

podzol In soil science, podzols are the typical soils of coniferous or boreal forests and also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia. In Western Europe, podzols develop on heathland, which is often a construct of hum ...

profile development, mapped as Turk's Cove series;

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

is common in poorly drained areas. The town had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 518 in the Canada 2006 Census. The first record of settlement is found in Captain John Berry's Report to the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

in which he indicates that, in 1675, there were three fishing enterprises. These fishing crews departed from the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, probably from the city of

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, in the early spring of each year to fish in waters near the coast; the fish would be salted and dried in structures along the shore known as stages and flakes and shipped to England in the Fall. The three fishing Captains were Hopkins, Wicksell and Peyton who, along with their crews, comprised a population of less than 100. The small boats suitable for fishing in near shore waters were constructed using local timber following ancient designs and using implements and tools whose origins can be traced to

Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of ...

. The Winterton Boat Building and Community Museum, now rebranded as the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador, has preserved these ancient techniques and tools; the museum has on display newly constructed boats as well as the tools and axe hewn timbers. The next record of settlement in Scilly Cove (Winterton) is found in the 1697 journal of

Jean Baudoin Jean Baudoin (1662–1698) was a French Sulpician priest who served as a missionary in Acadia, and later as a chaplain during military expeditions carried on by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. Life Jean Baudoin studied at the College of Nantes with ...

, a priest who accompanied d'Iberville on his expedition around the coast of Newfoundland. At Scilly Cove he reported that there were four houses along with fishing structures as well as

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, which were all destroyed before the soldiers departed. Settlers fled to the nearby forest to escape the invaders. In 2022, Grammy winning Canadian music producer,

Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...

, purchased St. Luke's Anglican Church in the community. The church is still open to the public for religious purposes and Wells hopes to use the property to showcase local talent."Greg Wells"
Grammy-Winning Music Producer Gets First Look at Winterton Church Property" July 14, 2022

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 ...

, Winterton 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.

Attractions

* Sugarloaf Trail * Trinity South D'Iberville Trail * St. Luke's Anglican Church, now owned by Canadian music producer

References

External links

Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and LabradorWinterton - Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol.5, p.599-600.
{{Authority control Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador

Demographics

Attractions

See also

References

External links