Jerrys Nose: Located on the south Shore of the Port au Port Peninsula, Jerry's Nose is listed as an abandoned fishing community with only a few houses still occupied around the area.

It is "electorally" part of what is officially called an "unorganized subdivision" of the island that encompasses most of the peninsula, and according to the 2016 census the population consisted of 1,957 residents, only slightly down from 2011, when 1,973 were tallied.

The area that was Jerrys Nose consists of a narrow sandy beach with a very steep cliff.

According to material presented in the ENL the "nose itself is a narrow grassy projection in the middle of the cove" (Note: Typically Jerrys Nose is written without an apostrophe).

The derivation of the settlement's name is uncertain - two possibilities are offered - that it was named after "some forgotten inhabitant" or secondly that it possibly it was derived from the surname "Jesso", a common name in the community at one time.

One of the original Jesso's, Alexander Jesso was an Acadian fisherman from Cape Breton, who came to Newfoundland to fish for lobster. According to the Benoit First Nations website, Jerrys Nose was named "by Americans who built a base in Ship Cove sometime during the Second World War."

According to the 2014 "What's in a Name?" vignettes mentioned previously, Fred, a resident of Jerrys Nose, the following is the "correct" story: A fisherman by the name of Jerry Jessell was hauling his boat up the step hill from the water, when a "freak gust of wind come up".

It blew Jerry backwards and he tumbled down "stern over bow" right to the bottom of the cove "busting his nose all over his face". But the time he got home, Jerrys nose was an "awful size, as big as a dog's and twice as saucy".

He was greeted by his wife, standing in the doorway, who exclaimed loudly "Tommytush".

And that is how the community got its name, according to Fred. Tommy Touch (or Tommy's touch) pronounced "Tommytush) was a small section of Ship Cove, between Jerry's Nose and the main cove.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/JerrysNose