Attractions

Harbour Grace has a colorful history of wealthy merchants, a prosperous fishery, and, of course, a pirate. Pirate Peter Easton's old fort, later a court house, now houses the Conception Bay Museum with pirate exhibits, the first ham radio, and fishery displays. It was from the Harbour Grace airfield that Amelia Earhart took off to become the first woman to successfully fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932. You will see the Kyle, a famous sealing ship and coastal steamer, resting in the harbour where it went aground in 1967.

Bay Roberts was crucial in Trans-Atlantic communication during the turn of the 20^th century. The Bay Roberts Cable Building was built in 1910 when the Western Union Cable Company erected a relay station on the connection from England to North and South America. The building was restored and now houses the town office, Heritage Society Archives, the Christopher Pratt Art Gallery and the museum; "From a Needle to an Anchor". You might like to take your picnic basket and walk the Bay Roberts East Shoreline Heritage Trail that winds through the earliest settlement of the town to see icebergs and the remains of rock walls and root cellars.

You can take a turn off Route 70 to go to Port de Grave, a community built on steep cliffs with a harbour always filled with large fishing vessels. Stop at the Fishermen's Museum for a look at a boat model exhibit and numerous artifacts depicting the life of the Newfoundland Fisherman & his family. You can also visit Hibbs Hole School, one of the few remaining one room schools, which displays photographs of various aspects of the fishery, the way of life in a small outport, as well as an inventory of tombstone inscriptions.

As you drive along you will pass along North River, Clarke's Beach and South River. These communities are popular destinations for sport fishing, as there are two licenced salmon rivers running through them. While in Clarke's Beach be sure to stop at Winter Home, a Registered Heritage Structure. The structure's former resident was Newfoundland's most famous furniture maker, Henry William Winter. This house has been occupied by the Winter family since 1880 and is in excellent shape for a structure of its age.

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