St. Lawrence: Located on the bottom of the Burin Peninsula, as one "rounds" the tip is the community of St. Lawrence.

The town is believed to have been named by mariner Richard Clark, who accompanied Sir Humphrey Gilbert on a voyage to Newfoundland in 1583. After a disaster at sea off Sable Island, Clark, along with some other survivors, drifted at sea for 7 days until they reached land.

According to the material presented in the ENL, "some researchers believe that St. Lawrence was their landfall, which the men named for the St. Lawrence River - ". ...wee named the place St. Lawrence because it was a goodly river like the St. Lawrence in Canada, and we found it very full of Salmons".

However, not all researchers support that theory as "other evidence, including John Dee's map of 1578-80 showing a place called S. Laurens, suggests that it was named by Channel Islands fishermen, for St. Lawrence was one of the twelve parishes of Jersey Island".

This theory could be correct as it is known that both Basque and French fishermen were using the port in the 1600s, and by 1640 there were 150 French inhabitants.

St. Lawrence was attacked by the British in the Queen Anne's War, with the British winning, but it wasn't until the early 1700s that English settlement occurred (followed by Irish).

In 2016 the population sat at 1,192, a decrease of 4.2% from 2011 when there were 1.244 citizens enumerated. The town's biggest employer is the fish plant run by Ocean Choice International.

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/StLawrenceNL