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travel / great places / canadian snapshots / avalon peninsula
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Avalon Peninsula
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| Looking over St. John's Harbour |
FOUR HUNDRED MILLION YEARS AGO, Newfoundland's
Avalon Peninsula drifted westward, away from the European continent.
The irregularly shaped peninsula juts out into the Atlantic from
the southeast corner of the island, attached to the mainland
by a narrow isthmus that shrinks
to 4.8 kilometres in some places. Roughly half of the population
of Newfoundland inhabits this area. Known for its historically
significant landmarks, beautiful capital city, dramatic coastal
landforms and quaint fishing communities, the Avalon Peninsula
provides a snapshot of the spectacular diversity of the province.
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Location
The easternmost stretch of the Trans Canada Highway snakes into
the Avalon Peninsula, ending in St. John's. Just past the isthmus,
Highway 100 branches off the Trans Canada and heads south along
the west coast of the peninsula; Highways 70 and 80 hug the northern
shores, reaching Bay de Verde; Highway 90 rolls down to Trepassey
on the south shore; and Highway 10 winds from St. John's to Cape
Race, on the peninsula's southeast tip. The peninsula stretches
180 kilometres from north to south and spans nearly 100 kilometres
from east to west.
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Places of Interest
St. John's
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| Coming in to St. John's Harbour |
St. John's is a
city of superlatives, as North America's most easterly port and
oldest city. Legend has it that the city derived its name from
the discovery of the area by John Cabot
in1497. There is some debate about whether John Cabot actually
landed in North America, but it has been established that European
fishermen were frequenting the area by the early 1500s. Today,
St. John's is the second-largest metropolitan area in Atlantic
Canada with a population of more than 100,000 people. The city
has a unique small -town feel that also provides all the amenities
and services of a big city.
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Mistaken Point
Mistaken Point is a remote and rugged spot on the peninsula's
southern tip. The last human settlements were abandoned here
in the late 1950s. Precambrian fossils,
formed after being covered in a fine layer of volcanic ash more
than 620 million years ago, are one of the main draws to the
area. The fossils are internationally recognized as some of the
most diverse and well-preserved Precambrian collections in the
world. First discovered in 1967, the fossils include the impressions
of soft-bodied multi-cellular organisms, which have been identified
as relatives of present-day jellyfish-like marine invertebrates.
At least 20 different fossil species have since been identified,
ranging in size from 2 to 30 centimetres. In 1987, a five kilometre
stretch of coast was declared an ecological reserve to protect
the fossils from being removed or scavenged. Visitors can get
a glimpse of these rare relicts, but fossil collecting is strictly
prohibited.
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Cape Spear National Historic Site
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Cape Spear Lighthouse
Courtesy of Newfoundland and Labrador
Tourism www.wordplay.com |
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This picturesque landscape is
the most easterly point in North America and the site of Newfoundland's
oldest standing lighthouse. Portuguese explorers named the area
Cauo de la Spera, which means "the cape of good hope"
or "cape of waiting." The coast is made up of red sedimentary rock upon which a lighthouse,
which was erected in 1834, still stands. The lighthouse provided
an important approach signal for mariners for more than a century.
The Cape also has an interesting military history. During the
Second World War, gun emplacements were built at the tip of the
Cape, along with a series of underground passages connecting
the gun sites, equipment rooms and barracks. The remains of the
military site were destroyed soon after the war, but the gun
emplacements are still standing. In 1962, Cape Spear was recognized
as a national historic park, featuring the restored lighthouse,
gun emplacements, hiking trails and a picnic spot. It is now
one of Canada's 849 national historic sites.
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Cape St. Mary's
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| | Gannets flock to Bird Rock in the Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve
Photo: K. Bruce Lane |
This point of land on the southwestern
tip of the peninsula consists of a steep cliff rising about 76
metres out of the sea. Just offshore lie some of the best fishing
areas in Newfoundland, which have been fished since the 16th
century when Europeans frequented the region. The waters are
legendary for being difficult to navigate because of shoal waters
and a small cluster of islands off the Cape. A dense fog also
often shrouds the area, which can make navigation even more challenging.
When the area was permanently settled, it became the site of
a highly concentrated summer and fall cod fishery. A Provincial
Sea Bird Sanctuary was established in 1964, now called the Cape
St. Mary's Ecological Reserve. A 76-metre sea
stack located near the mainland provides a nesting ground
for huge colonies of kittiwakes
and gannets.
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Glossary
Gannets are large, long-winged
seabird that are white except for black wing tips and a yellow
head. They weigh about three kilograms and can reach a metre
in length.
An isthmus is a narrow
strip of land connecting two large land areas that are otherwise
separated by the sea.
John Cabot was an Anglo-Italian
explorer whose discoveries included the first recorded landfalls
on North America.
Kittiwakes are a type of
gull that live along the North Atlantic coast. They are white
birds with black-tipped wings and feet and yellow bill.
Precambian fossils were
formed from the Earth's crust more than 4 billion years ago
Sea stacks are also referred
to as chimney rocks. They are isolated columns of rock that form
by wave erosion off a high-cliffed coast.
Sedimentary rock is one
of the three major types of rock that make up the Earth's crust
formed from loose sediment that has been transformed into rock.
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Links
Welcome to Newfoundland and Labrador (www.nfld.com)
Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism (www.gov.nf.ca/tourism)
TransCanada Highway (www.transcanadahighway.com/newfoundland/map.htm)
Newfoundland and Labrador (www.newfoundland-labrador.com)
Atlantic Canada Cycling (www.atl-canadacycling.com)
Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism (www.wordplay.com/)
City of St. John's Homepage (www.city.st-johns.nf.ca)
K. Bruce Lane Photography (www.lanephotography.com/index.htm)
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