Gaskiers-Point La Have: Located on the eastern side of St. Mary's Bay, northwest of Trepassey, the community of Gaskiers-Point La Have resulted from the incorporation in 1970 of the town of Gaskiers and the town of Point La Have.

Both of the town names are obviously French in origin and it is Gaskiers, in particular, that has an interesting story around its origin.

There are a couple of different theories that have been put forth, one is that Gaskiers comes from the French expression casse-caur or its synonym crève-caur which translates into literally to mean "heart-break" and figuratively to mean "heartbreaker", often used colloquially to refer to either a "lady- killer" or a "man-killer".

However, if this is the correct derivation, no one seems to know why that name was chosen. Others, in particular the historian, E.R. Seary (1971, cited in the ENL) suggested a very different by also plausible explanation.

His theory is that the name comes from the French family name Gasquie, or its variants Gascoyne and Gascoigne. He bases that on the fact that the community was recorded in the census reports from 1884 to 1901 as Gasoigne.

It is known that fishermen from France fished in this area extensively in the late 1600s and early 1700s but with the Treat of Utrecht all of this changed and British settlers came into the area.

At one point, it was recorded as having the name "Gaskin Point La Haye". The history behind the name of "La Haye" is far simpler. not only, according to Seary, is La Haye a fairly common surname in France, there is also a town in France with the same name. Captain Cook's map of 1762 records the area as "Point Le Hays" and La Haye Point".

Inshore cod fishing, and more recently lobster and snow crab fishing have been the mainstay of the community; to a lesser degree farming has been of importance.

Slowly the population grew, and the census of 1981 showed a total of 505 residents, however, the 2016 census has shown that the community, like most Newfoundland communities has lost many of its townsfolk.

There were only 232 residents then which is only one less (233) than was recorded in 2011 (a 0.4% decrease).
ST. MARY'S BAY:
A large bay on the southern Avalon Peninsula, St. Mary's Bay runs approximately 65 km (40.4 mi) north-northeast from its western headland.

Cape St. Mary's to its head at Colinet. Cape Pine may be regarded as the eastern headland of the Bay, although in local usage both capes and the communities of Point Lance (in the west) and St. Shotts (in the east) lie just outside the Bay.

In the northeast, St. Mary's Bay branches into four long inlets: North Harbour, Colinet Harbour, Harricott Bay and Salmonier Arm.

The major islands are the Colinet Islands, with Great Colinet Island, 8 km (5 mi) long, being conspicuous at the centre of the Bay. The only other large island is Pinchgut Island, in Colinet.

The major rivers draining into the Bay are the Salmonier (outlet for waters of the eastern Avalon Peninsula), and the Colinet, Rocky and North Harbour rivers (which drain most of the central Avalon).

These rivers are surrounded by stands of forest, as is Holyrood Pond, but other parts of the surrounding interior are dominated by barrens.

The headlands of St. Mary's Bay have historically been noted for rich cod fisheries, while salmon and herring have been abundant in the inner Bay.

In particular, the waters off Cape St. Mary's have been renowned as some of Newfoundland's most productive fishing. Although Cape St. Mary's and the western shore of the Bay have been the major fishing grounds, the eastern shore is favoured with better harbours.

It has been estimated that approximately 5000 people live in the bay, with most of them living on the eastern shore in towns such as Colinet, Point La Haye, and Gaskiers, however some live on the western shore in smaller communities such as Point Lance and Branch.

Many of the towns in the bay have been mentioned previously, however there are a few of note that haven't yet been covered.

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

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