Anchor Point
Old cemetery at Anchor Point (credit: C. Cochrane)
Anchor Point is considered the first English settlement on the French Shore. The first settlers of Anchor Point - Robert Bartlett and Robert Genge - came to the area around 1740 to fish. The harbour there was a good place for concealment from the French Navy patrolling the coast for illegal English fishing boats. It was also a good place from which to hunt seals during their annual migration into the Gulf of St Lawrence. Bartlett eventually returned to England but Robert Genge remained and together with his brother Abraham and nephew William they became fur traders as well as fishermen. By the 19th century, in spite of settlement restrictions in the French Shore Treaty, Anchor Point was growing into a centre for the sealing and fishing along the northwest coast. In 1848, the Anglican bishop of Newfoundland visited Anchor Point and consecrated the cemetery, giving the community the distinction of having the first official cemetery in the Strait of Belle Isle region. Today Anchor Point is a large community with a busy fish processing plant.
Anchor Point : Deep Cove Winter Community
The interpretation trail at Deep Cove leads to the remains of winter settlement for several families from Anchor Point. The few house remains that can be seen celebrate a tradition common in many outports in Newfoundland and Labrador - that of moving to a sheltered place for the winter to get away from the intense winds at that time of year and to be closer to sources of firewood. Traditionally, families would pack up all their necessary belongings in the fall and move to a winter quarters at the inner end of bays and other sheltered areas near woodlands. These places were called wintering places or winterhousing. Around 1867 people from Anchor Point began moving to Deep Cove for the winter months. Most were members of the Genge family. The last season people overwintered there was in 1958. After the road was built along the west coast in the 1960s, there was little need for winter quarters as people could more easily access firewood. Today, a trail and interpretive panels are woven through the remains of the Deep Cove community.
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The remains of the winter community Deep Cove