Mary's Harbour. After the fire at Battle Harbour, rather than build on the same site, the International Grenfell Association decided to relocate, and a new school, a hospital and various outbuildings were built in Mary's Harbour, on the mainland, about 11km (7 mi) inland on the southern shore of the St. Lewis Inlet.

While it is known that there was a salmon fishery in the area as far back as the late 1700s, according to the ENL, "there was no population recorded again until 1935, although families from communities on Great Caribou Island often wintered there and local tradition has it that a succession of "hermits" lived on the St. Mary's River over the years, the most recent being Peter Blanchard, who was 65 in 1935".

Originally the harbour was known as St. Mary's Harbour, when it lost its "sainthood" is unknown! It is written in the ENL that the first permanent resident was thought to be Samuel Acreman, who supervised construction for the Grenfell mission and stayed on as administrator and handyman for the school and hospital.

According to material included in the Labrador Coastal Drive website, ever since the cod moratorium (of the early 1990s) Mary's Harbour has thrived on the crab fishery.

Today the Labrador Fishermen's Union Shrimp Company is the major employer in the area, employing over 120 people at the local crab processing facility. The population of Mary's Harbour was 341, a 11.0% decrease of the 383 that lived there 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/MarysHarbour