- St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. Mary's Bay
St. Mary's Bay is one of many bays in Newfoundland, where
bay is taken as a regional subdivision, somewhat along the lines ofcounty divisions (Newfoundland, a largely maritime society, lacks counties). It is the most southern and eastern of Newfoundland's major bays.It is located on the southern shore of the
Avalon Peninsula and is the heartland of theIrish Newfoundlanders , who live all along its shores, stretching west to theCape Shore andPlacentia and northeast to theSouthern Shore and St. John's. Like most Irish Newfoundlanders, area residents trace their ancestry toCounty Waterford ,County Wexford ,County Kilkenny , southCounty Tipperary and eastCounty Cork . In addition to being Irish, the region is also overwhelminglyRoman Catholic .St. Mary's Bay is an exceedingly
rural area. None of the communities in the bay have a population in excess of 1000, and the bay as a whole is home to less than 5,000 people along (very roughly) the 150 km that make up 3 sides of its circumference, the 4th being uninhabitable ocean (note: because of bays, headlands, etc., the actual kilometres of shoreline are much much more than 150).St. Mary's Bay stretches approximately 40
kilometres (25miles ) wide at its mouth, fromPoint Lance in the west toCape Freels in the east, and it extends almost 58 km (36.3 miles) to the NNE to its furthest point inland atColinet .The next bay to the west is Newfoundland's largest bay,
Placentia Bay . To the east of St. Mary's Bay is the much smallerTrepassey Bay .St. Mary's Bay and Resettlement
St. Mary's Bay, while not hit as hard as neighboring
Placentia Bay , was subject to the Resettlement Program spearheaded byJoey Smallwood ,Newfoundland and Labrador 's first premier (1949-1972). People in rural communities deemed no longer viable (whether by reason of population, economics, or remote location) were pressured by the government to relocate to 'growth centres.' Thus, there are several ghost towns around St. Mary's Bay, abandoned a generation ago.Communities within St. Mary's Bay
Starting at the southwest extremity and moving around the bay in a
counter-clockwise fashion. :*Point Lance (2006 population: 119)
*Branch (2006 population: 309)
*North Harbour (2006 population forDivision No. 1, Newfoundland and Labrador Subdv X: 510)
*Colinet (2006 population: 165)
*Harricot (2006 population: see North Harbour, above)
*Mount Carmel
*Mitchells Brook
*St. Catherine's (2006 population for Mount Carmel-Mitchells Brook-St. Catherine's: 438)
*Salmonier (2006 population, including Salmonier: 792)
*New Bridge (2006 population forDivision No. 1, Newfoundland and Labrador Subdv W: 561)
*St. Joseph's (2006 population: 144)
*O'Donnells (2006 population: see New Bridge, above)
*Admirals Beach (2006 population: 185)
*Mall Bay (2006 population: see New Bridge, above)
*Riverhead (2006 population: 220)
*St. Mary's (2006 population: 482)
*Point La Haye
*Gaskiers (2006 population for Point La Haye-Gaskiers: 302)
*St. Vincent's
*St. Steven's
*Peter's River (2006 population for St. Vincent's-St. Stephen's-Peter's River: 363)
*St. Shott's (2005 population: 109)ee also
*
Newfoundland outport
*Avalon Peninsula
*Irish Newfoundlanders
*Newfoundland Irish External links
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~cannf/stmarybay.htm Avalon South Region - St. Mary's Bay District]
* [http://www.cdli.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy/tradit.html Recollections of Life in pre-Confederation Branch, St. Mary's Bay]
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