Dover is a small incorporated fishing and lumbering village located in a small cove at the head of Freshwater Bay,
Bonavista Bay,
Newfoundland
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 population ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. Settled in the early 1890s it was originally known as Shoal Bay, presumably from its many shallow coves and inlets in the area. From the 1950s to the 1970 Shoal Bay was referred to as ''Wellington (Dover Post Office)'', whereas the local residents called it Dover.
The first census taken of the community was in 1891 when seventeen people were counted, both lumbermen and fisherman. By 1901 the population had grown to sixty-six people and by 1921 it had grown to 203. The
2016 Census reported that its population was 662 people.
The mayor of Dover is Tony Keats.
Near Dover is a geological feature called the
Dover Fault, a major break in the Earth's crust. It is the dividing line for
Gondwana
Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...
and
Laurentia
Laurentia or the North American craton is a large continental craton that forms the Geology of North America, ancient geological core of North America. Many times in its past, Laurentia has been a separate continent, as it is now in the form of ...
that was formed by the
Iapetus Ocean
The Iapetus Ocean (; ) existed in the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic eras of the geologic timescale (between 600 and 400 million years ago). It was in the southern hemisphere, between the paleocontinents of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalon ...
. A song in the Broadway musical ''
Come From Away'' takes place at the lookout over the fault.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...
, Dover 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.
See also
*
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
External links
History of DoverCommunity informationDover - Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol.1, p. 608-609.
Populated coastal places in Canada
Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador
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