Salvage: Originally inhabited by Beothuks, it was Basque fishermen who first inhabited the area in the early 1600s.

Basques being Spanish speaking, it is believed the town's name comes from the Spanish word salvaje, a word with different spelling but with the same pejorative meaning.

From the Heritage NL website comes the following excerpt that traces the history of the name: [The] name was later Anglicized in early documents variously as Salvage (1667, 1676, 1703, 1705), Solvage (1676), Salvadje (1677), Solvadge (1676) and Salvoyage (1698).

The English Pilot, based upon information collected by Henry Southwood in 1677, observed that English ships did not fish in Bonavista Bay "except till within this year or two at a Harbour called Salvages, to the Northward of Bonavista".

This reference dates the advent of the English fishery at Salvage with some precision. The plural form "Salvages" also appears on the Cook and Lane chart of 1775.

Following the pattem seen in other communities, the population in Salvage has also decreased, from 136 in 2011 to 124 in 2016 (an 8.85% decrease).

Broomclose [or Broom Close] is a long and narrow rectangularly shaped harbour. It has a two-mile indraft but averages only about 300 yards in width. It bites deep into the headland just southward of Salvage.

Salvage is just to the west, north of Terra Nova National Park on the Eastport Peninsula.

It is one of the most scenic villages, on one of the most beautiful windy roads, in all of Newfoundland; in fact, Harrowsmith Country Life has declared that Salvage is one of "Canada's 10 prettiest towns".

Of particular interest is the collection of fishing stages, wooden vernacular buildings where fish are brought in to be processed, probably one of the best on the Island. For more information on Salvage, please go to the section entitled Eastport Peninsula.

Although one of the more remarkable natural features on the Eastport Peninsula, it is generally not well known except to Salvage fishers. Shoals, rocks and surging seas at its mouth do not make it an easy harbour to enter.

Inside, its shoreline is characterized mainly by precipitous and beetling cliffs that admit only a few places where boats could land with any safety or convenience, or where fishing premises could be built.

Despite its forbidding qualities, a few families favoured it and managed to make a living in the fishery (Handcock, 2002).

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/Salvage