Sunnyside: Located around the shore at the head of Bull Arm in southwestern Trinity Bay, this town should not be confused with the "other" Sunnyside which is on New World Island and is part of Herring Neck.

It was at "this" town of Sunnyside that it was reported that John Guy and other colonists from Cuper's Cove (now Cupids) met with a small group of Beothuks on November 7, 1612.

It was reported that the two group shared a meal and gifts were exchanged. According to ENL sources, "accounts of the 1612 meeting suggest that there was a considerable aboriginal presence in Bull Arm in the 1600s, and archaeological investigations have (since] confirmed the early presence of Europeans and Beothuk, as well as an earlier Dorset Palaco- Eskimo presence on nearby Frenchman's Island".

According to material presented in the ENL, prior to the area being known as Sunnyside, Guy referred to the area as "Truce Sound in honour of the good relations established with the Beothuk".

Later though, as it developed, the community became known as Bottom of Bay Bulls Arm or simply Bay Bulls Arm, and eventually, even more "simply" Bull Arm.

However, given that there was already a community known as Bay Bulls (further to the east, south of St. John's) the towns name again was renamed in the 1920s to avoid "confusion" between the two communities.

According to information presented in Wikipedia, "the current name of Sunnyside came from a former schoolteacher who said "...the spot of sun which seems always to shine on that tiny section of Trinity Bay".

Aside from the fishery, the construction of a sawmill in the town contributed to the towns economy and to its growth, but that industry had a major setback when a fire destroyed much of the standing timber.

The population in the community peaked to 399 citizens in the 1930s, however, the population by the 1950s had declined to 228 people:

After that time, the population grew steadily over the years until reaching a high population of 726, later decreasing to 634 by 1986. Over the years many of the citizens of Sunnyside could be found in road construction and other large construction projects.

The oil refinery, located in Come By Chance, is a source of employment for many Sunnyside residents.

Along with the oil refinery, many of the residents were once employed by working on the Hibernia Oil Platform project, which was located right in their own backyards.

"One of the five super modules, the wellhead module, was built at the Bull Arm construction site in Newfoundland.

The other four super modules were constructed outside Canada (two in Italy and two in Korea) and shipped to Bull Arm in May and June of 1995 where they were welded together to form one integrated unit." (Hibernia, para. 10)

The most recent Census held in 2016 showed that the population unfortunately has declined dramatically to the point that there were only 396 residents living in town, a 12.4% decrease from the 452 recorded in 2011.

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/SunnysideNL