While living in St. Paul’s River, Quebec, my parents decided to visit for Thanksgiving holiday. Red Bay National Historic Site was mentioned as a spot of interest by a colleague of mine. The site, located just 2 hours up the coast in Labrador, is a location of sixteenth century Basque Whalers. Fortunately, someone was able to open the Interpretation Centre for us, as it was closed for the season.
The day was beautifully clear and sunny; fairly warm for that time of year on the Lower North Shore. As you enter the small village, you can almost picture the whalers busy at work. A detailed tour gave us the ability to imagine what it would have been like for the fortune seekers so far from home. The recovered Basque ship at the entrance touched me the most. The exhibits that surround it are exquisite, exploding with a peek into the past, and give the visitor the truest sense of life in yesteryear. A great deal of research has been done to verify the many artefacts at Red Bay. Canadian researchers travelled to present day Basque to corroborate the documents discovered and recovered from the site. The constant danger and struggle the whalers faced is extremely evident in both the exhibits and natural terrain of the rugged surroundings.
We finished our day with a hike up Tracy Hill. During the summer months, visitors would have a chance to journey to an island in the middle of the bay where more history comes to life. This site possesses great significance in Canadian history, and I believe it is under appreciated due to the remoteness of the site. It is rare to see a site of this calibre, and here you find a world-class facility on the most rugged coast in Canada.