Gander to Eastport Concert
This is our second stop, Eastport at Holy Cross Anglican Church. The concert will begin at 7pm. We will be arriving around 5:30.
Eastport is a very small town located on the Eastport peninsula of Newfoundland near the
border of Terra Nova Park. It is a vacation location because of its sandy beaches, beautiful
scenery and long heritage. Eastport has a population of somewhere around 500. Statistics vary
and are based on a 2021 census. However there are a number of small settlements in the
Eastport area, including Salvage, Burnside, St Chad’s, Happy Adventure and Sandy Cove. Each
one of these has plus/minus 100 people living there.
The Salvage Peninsula and the Eastport area have a fascinating history. There was a large first
nations population all over the Salvage area, and their presence initially kept away Europeans
who came to the area to harvest fish and seals. However, there is evidence of fishing vessels
coming close to Eastport as early as the 1660’s, and the ancestors of many of the current
population came to the area as early as 1700. Some sought permanent residency in Barrow
Harbour and Salvage from the 1780s onward. By the 1820s Salvage had become a thriving
community of inshore fishing families and had a school and a church. People fished for cod and
there was a thriving logging industry for a number of years. When most of the trees were cut
and the cod grew scare, many families turned to farming. Some farms were as large as 100
acres, although most were smaller.
The interesting thing is that many of the current residents bear the names of the original
families that settled on the peninsula over 250 years ago. The history has been preserved and
the family names from as early as 1700 are recorded.
There are a lot of interesting place names in and around Eastport: Happy Adventure, Squid
Tickle, Squid island, Crokes Point, etc. Holy Cross Church, where we will be singing, was built in
1890, and is located in an area called “The Neck”. The Neck is a 30 acre area acquired by the
Anglican Church to be held as a commons, and the land was reserved for cemeteries, schools,
playgrounds and public buildings, Clearly, the community was forward looking from the start
and planned for the public welfare and expansion of the town and the population of the whole
eastern Peninsula.
Andreas Thiel, the Priest at Holy Cross Anglican Church is also the pastor of three other small
Anglican churches in surrounding communities. He is very busy serving the needs of each of his
several parishes.
Holy Cross is a large church with a seating capacity of at least 600, which is strange because less
than 600 people live in Eastport and the population has never been close to 600. It is a
beautiful building that features lots of wood in the sanctuary. The church is used for many
community purposes, and may be the largest building in town.
Clearly our singing experience at Eastport will be unique. Andreas even offered to have some
church members take us on a tour of all of the surrounding communities. If only we had
another day to be able to do this!. I have no idea about how many people will come to our
Wendy