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Recreation and Places to Visit

The province has a well-deserved reputation for its excellent hunting and fishing grounds. Summer cruises along the rocky, picturesque coast are also popular. Since the early 19th century, the famous regatta held in August on Quidi Vidi Lake near St. John’s has drawn many spectators and participants. The regatta is considered the oldest regularly held sports event in North America, originating in 1826.

National Parks

The province has two national parks, both on the island of Newfoundland: Gros Morne National Park, on Newfoundland’s west coast, and Terra Nova National Park, in Bonavista Bay in the northeast. There are also seven national historic parks, including Signal Hill, at the entrance to St. John’s harbor, where the first transatlantic wireless message was received in 1901; Castle Hill, at Placentia, commemorating the French economic and military presence in Newfoundland; Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America and the site of Canada’s oldest standing lighthouse; and L’Anse aux Meadows, on the Great Northern Peninsula, where the earliest authentic site of a Viking colony was found in North America. In 1978 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared L’Anse aux Meadows a World Heritage Site.

Provincial Parks

There are more than 70 provincial parks and natural areas in Newfoundland and Labrador. They include Butter Pot, Sir Richard Squires Memorial, and Barachois Pond, which are among many provincial parks available for overnight camping. There are also a dozen ecological reserves that provide sanctuary for rare or endangered plants and animals or protect natural history artifacts, and several wilderness reserves encompassing extensive natural areas.

Libraries and Museums

The public libraries board, an independent board established by the provincial government in 1935, is responsible for public library services throughout the province. It administers more than 90 public libraries throughout the province, including three public libraries in St. John’s.

The Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador, headquartered in St. John’s and with branches in Grand Falls-Windsor and Grand Bank, has a collection exceeding one million artifacts. The museum contains provincial historical materials, a natural history collection, and a rich archaeological collection, which includes relics of the indigenous Beothuk people—inhabitants of the island of Newfoundland who were encountered by European explorers in the 16th century. The Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador (AGNL) in St. John’s is the largest public art gallery in the province. The primary focus of the gallery, which is owned by Memorial University of Newfoundland, is on contemporary Canadian art. There are many local museums, such as the Conception Bay Museum in Harbour Grace, the South Newfoundland Seaman’s Museum in Grand Bank, and the Labrador Straits Museum in L’Anse au Loup.

Other Places to Visit

At the top of Signal Hill is Cabot Tower, which was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot’s first voyage to the region. The site where Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland for Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1583 is marked by a memorial in St. John’s. A monument at Cupids, a site along Conception Bay, marks the colony founded there in 1610 by John Guy. Other famous sites include Ferryland, where Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland, established a colony in the 1620s; Placentia, in Placentia Bay, the old French capital; and Carbonear Island, which defied all French attempts to capture it in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Source: MSN Encarta: Online Encyclopedia