One of the must see places on any visit to St. John’s is Cape Spear National Historic Site, the most easterly point in North America. To reach it, drive west on Water Street, watching for the sign indicating the road to Cape Spear, Route 11. The road passes under Highway 2 and then climbs up over a steep hill, passes through the community of Shea Heights and winds its way east to the park and its lighthouse.
Cape Spear Attractions
Cape Spear National Historic Site of Canada
Blackhead/ Cape Spear, Route 11
P.O. Box 1268
St. John’s, NL, A1C 5M9
709-772-5367 Fax 772-6302
Visit the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland, dating from 1836. The lighthouse has been restored to its original appearance and refurnished to reflect a lightkeeper’s residence of 1839.
Built in 1835, the Cape Spear Lighthouse is the oldest existing lighthouse in Newfoundland. The two-story, wooden structure that served as a marine beacon from 1836 to 1955 is now a lifestyle museum. It is also an excellent vantage point to view whales and icebergs.
Following the death of the first Cape Spear lightkeeper, Emmanuel Warre, James Cantwell and since him, members of the Cantwell family have tended the light ever since. World War II saw two gun emplacements and underground passages & barracks added, though most of this was demolished after the war, though the gun emplacements still exist. Watch for whales, seabirds and icebergs.
Open May 15 – Oct 15
Blackhead Chapel Museum
Blackhead/ Cape Spear, Route 11
8 Blackhead Village Road
St. John’s, NL, A1C 5H2
709-753-1077
A tiny wooden chapel, constructed as a one-room school in 1879
Petty Harbour, Maddox Cove
West of Cape Spear on Route 11
Petty Harbour isa small outport that is just 18 km from the capital city. Here you’ll see the old wooden stages that were used to dry the salt cod that Newfoundland once supplied to the world. In recent years photogenic aspects of Petty Harbour have even been recognized by Hollywood and it has been the location of several feature films.