Hant's Harbour ( NST) is an incorporated

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 ...

located on the east side of Trinity Bay on the Bay de Verde Peninsula in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It has a population of 318 according to the 2021 Canadian census.

Geography

Hant's Harbour is a small fishing village built around a small harbour which opens on the north to Trinity Bay. The harbour waters are able to accommodate vessels up to 100 tons, the landscapes which surround it are low hills which are rocky and barren.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Hant's Harbour 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.

History

During

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...

(1688–1697), the village was destroyed in the Avalon Peninsula Campaign. Like most of the early settlements around the coast of Newfoundland, the population grew very slowly during the eighteenth century. Hant's Harbour early residents were mostly of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, during the eighteenth century they depended upon the services of clergy on the irregular visits of the missionaries for the

Society of the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...

, stationed at

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 th ...

. The rise and rapid growth of

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

in Hant's Harbour caused the Church of England community to remain small, its members being served the clergy stationed at nearby parishes. In the early twentieth century the Salvation Army came to Hant's Harbour and gradually built up a substantial membership, and constructed a citadel there.

Timeline

* 1697 – Abbe Baudoin reports that there are four houses at Hant's Harbour. * 1801 – Five families are listed as living in Hant's Harbour. * 1813 – T.E. and Mary Pelley die. The gravestone recording this still stands. * 1820s – The first known church is built in the community. * 1830s – The population consists of 400 people. * 1847 – Ten vessels carrying 271 men are engaged in the

seal hunt Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), I ...

. * 1853 – Eight vessels totalling 767 tons carry 294 men to the seal hunt. * 1868 – 1870 – A second and much larger church is built, serving the circuit until 1907 when it is destroyed to build a new one. * 1871 – Lovell's Newfoundland Dictionary lists 81 of the 104 householders in Hant's Harbour as fisherman. Two others are listed as farmers. * 1880s – The population grows to its peak of about 750 residents. * 1961 – Fire destroys the vegetation which formerly covered the low hills which surround the harbour.

Climate

Relatively mild winters with considerable variation in snow cover. Heavy rainfalls from October through December. Summers cooled by low clouds and fogs near coasts, considerably brighter and warmer inland.

Economy

From the beginning, the economy of Hant's Harbour was based mainly on the fisheries, until the nineteenth century when it was the inshore

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

fishery and the

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

fishery during the latter half of the century. This was also an important source of seasonal income during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Attractions

* Willow Tree Museum * Hant's Harbour Lighthouse * Willow Tree Fishing Stage * Willow Tree Site * Little Islands Hiking Trail * Trinity South D'Iberville Trail

References

External links

Baccalieu TrailPicture of the lighthouseHant's Harbour - Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol. 2, p. 792-795.

Aids to Navigation
''Canadian Coast Guard'' {{Authority control , additional=Q106088228 Populated coastal places in Canada Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador Lighthouses in Newfoundland and Labrador