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Travel to Atlantic Canada

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Moon Handbooks
Atlantic Canada,
4th Edition

About this guidebook
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About the author

Highlights of
Atlantic Canada
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
Prince Edward Island
National Parks

Tips for Travel to Canada
Getting to Canada
Getting around Canada
Where to Stay
Visas and Officialdom
The Seasons
Information and Services
Money

Newfoundland and Labrador

The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, situated at North America's northeastern edge, is composed of two parts: the island of Newfoundland (pronounced "Noof'n-LAND"), the world's 16th-largest island; and Labrador, which lies across the narrow Strait of Belle Isle from the island and forms the eastern flank of Canada's mainland.

The combined area is three times the size of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island put together, and more than twice the size of America's New England region. Cape Spear, the windy, boulder-bound promontory near the provincial capital of St. John’s, is North America's most easterly point and lies closer to Ireland than to central Canada.

Newfoundland's nearest neighbor is mainland Québec, which lies on Labrador's southern and western borders. The islands of St-Pierre and Miquelon, France's last vestiges of colonialism in North America, lie 25 km (15 miles) off Newfoundland island's southern coast. Nova Scotia and the rest of Atlantic Canada lie southwest across Cabot Strait, the wide channel between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Access to the province is not difficult. Labrador's western area is connected to Québec with air, rail, and road links. Labrador's eastern area and the island of Newfoundland are linked by air to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Atlantic Canada's gateway. Newfoundland’s capital of St. John's is also an international gateway, served by Air Canada’s nonstop flights from London. By sea, two ferry routes connect Newfoundland island with North Sydney, Nova Scotia. One leaves from Channel-Port aux Basques at the southwestern tip, the other from Argentia on the Avalon Peninsula.

The province is a veritable ethnic stew, home to a number of different cultures. You'll hear an accent not unlike an Irish brogue across the Avalon Peninsula and in outports all along the island’s ragged coastlines. The King's English savored in St. John's is a reminder of the province’s historic link with the mother country, severed only as recently as 1949. An ancient French dialect is spoken on the Port au Port Peninsula in southwestern Newfoundland. And in the communities on the north coast’s Fogo Island, remnants of Elizabethan dialect mark the islanders’ speech.

In Labrador, the ethnic mix includes Innu and Inuit communities, year-round and summertime Newfoundlanders; and French Canadians from Québec.

SIGHTSEEING HIGHLIGHTS

The Great Outdoors
Seabirds by the thousands—Atlantic Canada's largest concentrations—nest on the Avalon Peninsula coastlines. Whales cruise offshore, lured by spawning, smeltlike capelin. Moose and caribou graze peacefully alongside the roads, particularly at dawn and dusk. Icebergs float south from the arctic in summer and bob off the island's seacoasts, occasionally drifting into harbors and inlets.

In Labrador, when the sun goes down, look up. The aurora borealis—the magnificent northern light show caused by charged particles in the upper atmosphere—provides a stellar attraction, illuminating the sky up to 243 nights a year. The northern lights appear to float lazily in the pale moonlight, and it's said they'll dance to your tune if you whistle.

Labrador's rare labradorite, or firestone, is a type of feldspar with iridescent peacock blue, green, gold, purple, or pink streaks. Found also in Finland and Madagascar, it’s the best known and showiest of the province's 20 precious and semiprecious gems.

In summertime, wild berries of many varieties ripen in the province. Bakeapples, similar to Scandinavia's cloudberries, go into tasty desserts and preserves. Others include wild partridgeberries, squashberries, marshberries, blueberries, blackberries, plum boys, bunchberries, dewberries, crackerberries, crowberries, strawberries, and black currants.

Apart from all that, many consider the fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador to be Atlantic Canada's best. Hikers will find both marked and roughly cut wilderness trails, and enthusiasts of water sports can avail themselves of a number of activities, including canoeing, ocean kayaking, and even scuba diving. In the winter, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are as much a mode of transportation as they are the recreation of choice, while several ski resorts provide the thrill of speeding down snowy slopes. As in other regions of vast wilderness, ecotourism adventure tours are becoming an increasingly popular way to experience the natural rugged beauty of Newfoundland.

History and Tradition
Newfoundland’s history is well documented provincewide in a trove of museums and attractions. St. John's traces its history to the 1500s, as do Trinity, the heritage village on Trinity Bay, and Red Bay, where Basques established a series of whaling stations that constituted North America’s largest industrial enterprise of the period. South of St. John's, Ferryland began as Lord Baltimore's first New World settlement for English Roman Catholics. Its inland location, away from the often-present coastal fog, made Gander a prime candidate for a military air base during WW II, and the town now keeps its heritage on display with a collection of notable aircraft.

Evidence of the province’s original inhabitants can be seen at the several burial mounds and settlement sites that have been excavated in recent years. Interpretive centers housing artifacts of Maritime Archaic, Dorset Eskimo, and Beothuk communities include sites at Port au Choix, Boyd’s Cove, Burnside, Cape Ray, and L’Anse Amour, in Labrador.

The tip of the Northern Peninsula claims North America’s first known Viking settlement, L’Anse aux Meadows, where a re-creation of the thousand-year-old encampment lies adjacent to the grassy mounds of the original site. Nearby St. Anthony owes its fame to Sir Wilfred Grenfell, the medical missionary who initiated medical care in the remote areas and encouraged the making of crafts that are still produced and sold across the province.

The summertime festivals go on and on. Folk festivals are particularly notable, showcasing traditional music from new and established talents from the province, Canada, and abroad. Folk music fills the local pubs, too, especially in St. John's, which has a rousing night scene. In July, both Trinity’s Summer in the Bight festival and the Stephenville Theater Festival (on the west coast) take to the boards, and their fame has spread far beyond the province. In Forteau, a coastal village in Labrador, the annual Bakeapple Folk Festival in August is an unqualified must-see.

 

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