6/25/22: Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve & Plaisance/Placentia

As some of you have asked me to include photos of where Steven and I stay during our travels, here are shots of the beautiful, relaxing Aura B&B in tiny St. Mary's on the west coast of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula. Had we known how charming it was, it would have merited a second night's stay, but we'd bought tickets months earlier for the overnight ferry to Sydney, Nova Scotia, for the next day.

Oriental rugs covered almost every floor. Too bad the owners didn't want to part with any of them, as they were lovely!

Guests were encouraged to make themselves at home in the living room or the well-equipped kitchen.

A large art studio had been set aside to hold classes for guests and or the townfolk.

The sunroom:

A few miles north, on the way to Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, we stopped in the village of Riverhead, located on the Irish Route. Home to 20 families in 1864, it was settled by many Irish residents. When a Norwegian company set up a whaling factory in the late 1800s, the oil rendered from the whales was used for lamps and making perfume, the whale meat was sold to stores in St. John's, the baleen was used to make corsets, and the waste was used to fertilize vegetable gardens. The factory closed when demand for these items waned. 

From the late 1800s to the 1950s, Riverhead's population increased dramatically during the fishing season. People came from all over to work here, and as many as 500-600 people lived in Riverhead at the time. The population grew steadily as more people moved in, and most families had 10 or more children. However, a visiting English captain reported in 1868 that local families had nothing to eat but oatmeal and water because of severe fishing losses.  

Following significant declines in catches in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the government intervened to encourage agriculture to mitigate the impact of poor fish harvests. That was a logical step, as many of Riverhead's early settlers had emigrated from Ireland's farming communities. and had always grown a few potatoes near their homes. An agricultural society was established to distribute bulls, stallions, and rams to improve local livestock. Potato yields increased through experimentation. Although the society's work was successful, the outbreak of World War I led to a rebound in fish prices. When farmers realized that they could achieve a higher standard of living by returning to the sea, farming declined.

Riverhead's population grew to over 400 by 1968, but just 165 people remained as of the 2021 census. 

Riverhead's very moving veterans' memorial:

The long lost of men who served (and presumably died?) from the St. Mary's region in the World War I Newfoundland Regiment:

As stunning and scenic as Newfoundland is from coast to coast, its roads are (or at least were in 2022) simply atrocious!

Newfoundland's famous, or perhaps infamous, fog had rolled in by the time we reached Salmonier Arm, another small community on one of the peninsula's fingers.

There was even less to see initially in neighboring North Harbour!

A few miles further south, now on the Cape Shore Route, took us to the picturesque community of Branch.

These colorful homes now remind me of the equally eye-catching homes in Greenland that captivated us last summer.

The weather was so foggy on our arrival at Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve that we could barely make out the Visitors' Centre, less than 100 feet from the parking lot. Steven and I hoped that after driving 10 miles down an unpaved road and then hiking a half-mile over rocky, steep terrain, we would be lucky enough to reach the reserve's Bird Rock, described as North America's most accessible bird sanctuary!

The reserve, located at the southern tip of Cape St. Mary's, is a spectacular seabirding site beloved by birders worldwide. It provides nesting sites for over 50,000 seabirds, and is the southernmost breeding site for Northern Gannets and Thick-billed Murres in the world, and for Common Mures in the Western Atlantic. The waters off the Cape are also vital wintering grounds for seaducks. In addition, the reserve protects and preserves the coastal headlands of the Eastern Hyper-oceanic Barrens eco-region and the surrounding marine waters.

We had to smile when we read the sign perched against the entrance, cautioning visitors that the trail might be treacherous due to poor visibility and slippery conditions! And, that there was no fence protecting people from the precipitous cliff. We didn't smile much once we were on the trail, mind you.

Long before we caught a glimpse of Bird Rock, we heard a hundred or so birds and caught the unmistakable smell of guano and fish.

Bird Rock was a 197-foot-high seastack, home to some 10,000 nesting pairs of Northern gannets and masses of other seabirds, which we couldn't identify!

The vertical cliffs and the isolation of the mammoth sea stack offered the birds protection from land-based predators.

Think of Bird Rock and the adjacent cliffs like avian high-rise apartment towers! The ledges, outcrops, overhangs, and plateaus provide accommodation suitable for a variety of bird species. Each has its own niche suited to its nesting requirements.

Northern gannets, the largest of local seabirds, have a wing span of about six feet. They are graceful fliers, but their short, set-back legs make them ungainly on land. With their binocular vision, gannets dive for fish from heights of up to about 100 feet, reaching speeds of 60mph! After spending winters in the Gulf of Mexico, they return to Bird Rock on the reserve, where they were born the preceding June.

The gannets' long breeding season lasts from mid-March to late October. They mate for life, generally for ten years. The parents take turns finding fish to bring back to the nest, often flying up to 60 miles. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I remain stupefied that the gannets can recognize their mates, as they all look identical to me! By October, the chicks are bigger than their parents. They have just one chance to take off from their narrow perch on the cliff and fly. If they don't succeed, they fall into the waters below and die.

We read that from late June until the end of July, these cliffs at the Cape were a great place to view whales feeding. For all we knew, whales might have been there when we visited, but the fog was too dense to see the water.

The Basques called Cape St Mary's Cabo de Tormenta or the Cape of Storms. Just three miles from some of the world's richest fishing grounds, the Cape was known to early European mariners from the early 1500s, though it wasn't settled by Irish immigrants until about 1780. The new residents made the most of the resources at hand, combining fishing for cod, salmon, and lobsters with raising sheep, cattle, and pigs, fed in winter on hay and oats planted in spring. Store-bought items were supplemented with potatoes and other root crops grown in small gardens fertilized with kep gathered from nearby beaches. While ducks, seabirds, and other species were once hunted to put food on the table, only Murres can now be legally taken.

Even though Steven and I could never be described as birders, we still didn't want to bypass the opportunity to travel to this remote part of Newfoundland and sit awhile with the soaring birds and listen to their noisy calls drifting out to sea. 

An hour's drive north along Avalon's westernmost arm brought us to Placentia, a magnificent coastal forest overlooking Placentia Bay. It was chosen by the French as their island capital, which they called Plaisance. Colonists and soldiers settled here in 1662, building a military fortification on a high hill overlooking the port. From the fort, the French launched assaults on the island's capital, St. John's, in 1692 and again in 1693.

After England gained possession of the settlement in 1713, it was renamed Placentia. The hill where the fortress stood became known as Castle Hill.

Background: At the Castle Hill National Historic Site, we learned that no one knows when the first European fishermen visited Placentia. But by the time the French established a permanent colony here in 1662, the summer fishing industry had been operating for over a century. Each spring, several hundred fishermen, mainly Basque, arrived from France to use Placentia as a fishing base. They would build a wharf with a shed on it to land and clean their catch. They fished from small open boats called chaloupes.

In 1655, the French wanted to establish a royal colony and needed a fortified base to secure their fisheries and check English expansion along Newfoundland's south coast. Several sites were considered, but Plaisance had many advantages. The large harbor was sheltered from storms by the surrounding hills; its narrow mouth was easily defended; cannon mounted on the hills around the harbor would make a naval attack very risky; it was close to rich fishing grounds, and its large pebble beach was suitable for drying cod.

Placentia was also preferred by fishermen because its stone beach was ideal for drying fish. The beach's uneven surface allowed necessary air circulation under the fish. It was therefore critical for both fishermen and colonists to have beach property. Tensions between the resident fishermen and the Basque summer fleet often ran high as they competed for beach space to dry their catch.

A recreation of the beach at Placentia, circa 1690:

When France and Britain fought at Plaisance to seize control of Newfoundland's fishing industry, the focal point in the conflict for Newfoundland was Castle Hill. It was fortified by the French during the 17th century to protect their extensive cod fishery. Fort Royal was designed to protect against attackers with siege artillery and muskets. It had two flanks to provide additional protection along the fort's most vulnerable side by the gate. A ditch was dug in front of the gate to make an attack more difficult.

In 1692, defense works on Castle Hill were instrumental in repelling an English naval attack. Between 1696 and 1709, forces from Plaisance conducted destructive raids on English fishing settlements. Though they successfully defended Placentia in battles, the colony was ceded to Great Britain in the peace negotiations. As part of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France recognized English sovereignty over Newfoundland. Most of the residents of Plaisance moved to Louisbourg on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island or returned to France. 

Over the long period after Utrecht, the fort's defenses on Castle Hill were generally neglected and fell into ruin. When French forces temporarily occupied St. John's in 1762, Fort Royal was upgraded. But its status was eclipsed by St. John's, and its few remaining troops were sent there in 1811. After the English ceased maintaining the garrison at Placentia that year, their departure ended almost 150 years of military occupation. 

Views of Placentia from Castle Hill:

Before hopping on the 16-hour ferry ride from nearby Argentia to Sydney, Nova Scotia, Steven and I stretched our legs on the scenic Placentia Waterfront and Boardwalk, enjoyed our last views of lupines, as we'd loved seeing their vibrant hues all over the island, and one last, small-town harbor shot.

In what feels eerily like the situation in Greenland right now, Argentia served as a U.S. naval base from 1941 to 1994, with up to 20,000 American servicemen stationed there during World War II.
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I hope that the uniquely Newfoundland-named candy bars we saw on the ferry bring a smile to your day! 

We stayed up late listening to some traditional Newfoundland folk music - what a treat!

I hope my enthusiasm for and love of Newfoundland have come through in every post. Steven and I have been lucky enough to travel the world, but I still count Canada's easternmost province among our favorite destinations. If you have a sense of adventure, love spectacular vistas in 101 places, are curious about ancient and contemporary history, relish experiences not found elsewhere, and want to explore a place off many people's tourist radar, I highly encourage you to check out Newfoundland. Trust me, you'll be glad you did!

Next post: Discovering Sydney, where my three older brothers were born.

Posted on February 12th, 2026, from our home near Denver, where I hope you enjoy a fun Valentine's Day with your loved ones!