Logy Bay, Newfoundland
Location: St. John's East District, Newfoundland
Contents |
About
The term "logy" means heavy and sluggish, and may have been applied to this community to refer to cod made "lazy" from eating capelin. The present day town, Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, near St. John's Newfoundland, was an amalgamation of three adjacent communities. Logy Bay, Middle Cove, and Outer Cove.
History
The area was within the boundaries of lands granted in 1610 to the London and Bristol Company, and it is possible that the sites were used by fishermen in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Permanent settlement did not begin, however, until the early 1800s. The Irish migrants who settled in Logy Bay, Outer Cove and Middle Cove were attracted to the region because of the good farm land and easy access to the fishing grounds between Torbay Point and Flat Rock Point. The inhabitants mostly fished and farmed for their own use, but after a rudimentary road to St. John's was built in 1827 — and improved in 1841 — some people were likely selling surplus produce in St. John's.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries fishing rooms were built at the base of the cliffs, and in summer entire families moved into these temporary dwellings along with their farm animals. Catches had to be hauled with winches as much as 300 feet up the cliffs. In the mid-1800s a freshwater spring high in iron concentrates was discovered and won some recognition for its supposed medicinal qualities. Advertisements appeared in local papers in 1888 inviting the public to visit a spa built at the spring, but the venture soon collapsed. In 1942 an American artillery battery was built and manned for the duration of the war at Red Cliff and during the Korean War a radar station was erected at the site. In 1967 Memorial University's Marine Sciences Research Laboratory was built in Dyer's Cove.
Early Families
The community had a population of 200 people in 1869, with 21 farming families and 10 engaged in the fishery. Farming was initially done on a haphazard, subsistence basis, but by the late nineteenth century people were selling milk and vegetables door to door in St. John's. Fishing was carried out in Ryan's Cove, Cadigan's Side and Dyer's Cove, all of which were separated from the major area of settlement inland. In addition to Dyer, Cadigan and Ryan, other common family names were Flanigan, Kavanagh and Savage.
Resources
- What links to this page.
- Newfoundland's Grand Banks Site, St. John's East District
- Newfoundland and Labrador Genweb, Torbay regional sources
Resources
Sources
- Login to edit this profile and add images.
- Private Messages: Send a private message to the Profile Manager. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
- Public Comments: Login to post. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)