Happy Adventure: Another very pretty town, on the Eastport Peninsula, Happy Adventure was settled by the 1850s. In describing Happy Adventure, Handcock (2002) wrote the following.

Happy Adventure is an evocative place-name, pleasant-sounding and euphonic.

When bestowed in 1817 it was probably intended to convey an expression of well-being, or to reflect a positive experience by the person or persons who named it.

But also could be taken as a name that looks to the future with hopeful.

It is most likely that the name was chosen to "commemorate" an incident involving the notorious pirate, Peter Easton, who plied the waters of this area in the 17th century.

According to ENL sources "local tradition attributes the striking name... to an incident involving a fishing ship pursued by pirates which sought and received temporary shelter from detection in the waters of Happy Adventure Bays, the naming of which is attributed to the felicitous outcome of this adventure" (Vol. 2, p.795).

Some believe that the ship went by the name the "Happy Adventure". A second possibility is that it was named by George Holbrook, a British Admiralty hydrographer who was working in the area and sought shelter there during a particularly bad storm in 1817.

Handcock goes on to say, "Whatever its provenance, Happy Adventure is a name that wears well and can be accounted one of the community's cultural assets".

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/HappyAdventure