West St. Modeste: Located on the southwest side of Pinware Bay, it is said that Pierre Constatine, a merchant of New France, named this community in Labrador after his ancestral home in Normandy St. Modete.

St. Modet was a Nordic saint that he obviously admired. Not happy with just calling it St. Modete, he gave it the pompous name "Seigneurie du Grand St. Modet".

For a long time, the two towns in the area were called Grand St. Modet and Petit St. Modet; later they were named East St. Modet and West St. Modet.

Over time, the Modet was changed to Modeste. Why? The answer remains unknown to the research team According to ENL contributors, oddly, West St. Modeste "has retained the word "west" in it official name, even though East St. Modeste on the opposite side of Pinware Bay (also known as Little St. Modest) has been abandoned since the mid-1950s".

In 1958, the Oblate Missionaries chose the town to be the sited of their mission "Our Lady of Labrador". Population in 2016 was only 111, down 7.5% from 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/WestStModeste