Mount Moriah: Located on the south shore of Humber Arm, less than 10 km (6.2 mi) from Corner Brook, originally a fishing and lumbering town, now-a-days, many people living in the town commute to Corner Brook for work, schooling and to receive most of the necessary services (e.g., medical, etc.).

Mount Moriah was originally named Giles Point after one of the earlier settlers, most likely Joseph Giles who lived in the Bay of Islands, however in the early 1920s, the town became known as Mount Moriah, however, the reason for the change is unknown, nor is the instigator of the change.

From the following excerpts from the book written by J. Allan Critch (1928-1995), former Mayor of Mount Moriah, one can fathom that the mountain in the area was perhaps named Mount Moriah long before the actual town "adopted" the name (Elkins-Schmitt, 1996).

The following adds a little more information on place names in the area: The Early Days in Mount Moriah In the early days it was known as Child's Point officially, although I imagine the mountain itself was always Mt. Moriah.

However, if you lived west of Bartlett's Turn in the early days you were considered a resident of Mt. Moriah or more affectionately The Mountain'. Actually, the community was divided into two parts. You had what was known as Ballentine Cove to the east which covered the area between Bartlett's Point and the Perrett property, and to the west you had Child's Point.

Of course, today the Ballentine Cove area belongs to the City of Corner Brook. In fact, the boundary of the City of Corner Brook divides the mountain. Another part of the community that was and still is very popular is Cook's Brook.

Located at the western part of the community, this brook was named by Capt. James Cook when he chartered the waters of the Bay of Islands........ Another part of Mt Moriah that was quite popular in the early days would be Soper's Crossing.

This was the part of Mt. Moriah where the railway passed through. This of course was named for the Soper family who lived in that area. Today the road running adjacent to the railway is named Soper's Drive.

Soper's Crossing was an important link to Corner Brook in the early days of the operation of the paper mill as well.

In 1925 when the paper mill was opened in Corner Brook, cars were very scarce. Therefore, for transportation to and from the mill, the railway was used. As many of the people working in the mill lived outside Corner Brook, they used a rail car known to everyone as the 'Coach'.

Soper's Crossing was the starting point for this service. A siding or Wye as the older residents of Mt. Moriah knew it as was installed at Soper's Crossing. There, you boarded the Coach for you trip to Corner Brook.

Of course, not all passengers were mill workers. Many people took advantage of the Coach for shopping or visiting. It was the same as taking a bus today. However, as time went by and more cars were being purchased the Coach became less and less depended upon, so it was eventually discontinued....

No history of the early days would be complete without mentioning the early names and landmarks of the community. Besides the obvious names as Child's Point, Soper's Crossing etc. you had other names as well.

You may notice another mountain near Mt. Moriah. This was and still is known as Mt. Mary Ann. Then you had another brook as well as Cook's Brook. Though not so big, it still was very popular. This is of course Welshman's Brook. This brook was named after one of the early settlers, as were two ponds in the community named Murley's and Porter's Ponds.

The hills had their own names as well. Perret's, Morrison's, MacDonald's and Welshman's Hills were all named after early settlers. Perhaps Duggan's Hill near Cooks Brook was also named for someone who lived or had property near there.

Now that we haven dispensed with the early names, lets have a look at some of the old landmarks. Probably the most popular landmark or landmarks (there were two of them) were the 'Big Rocks'.

They were situated one on each side of the road with just enough room for a road between. Actually, there wasn't enough room for a road of the present day dimensions, which is why they were removed. However, they were very popular to the residents of Mt. Moriah, particularly the children.

I would venture to say that practically every kid in Mt. Moriah one time or another climbed one of these rocks to or from school....to the older people they were indeed a very popular and familiar landmark.

I remember a former resident telling me that the most important thing he missed when he returned were the "Big Rocks". They had been removed while he was away...

Now, lets take a walk just a short distance to what we called 'Morrisons Slide'. This wasn't really much of a slide as slides go. Actually, it was only a small incline that left the road open to the bay.

But it you told someone you would meet them at the slide, they knew where it was. The slide was located at the bottom of Morrisons Hill near the property of Mr. Murdock Morrison....

According to information presented in the ENL, the population reached the 700 mark in the early 1960s and it appears to have remained around that level since then; the census of 2016 reported that there were 746 residents, a 5.0% decrease from the earlier census of 2011 when 785 residents were enumerated.
Serpentine Lake: Located in the interior of the Island, Serpentine Lake was named by Cormack, who actually was a botanist, geologist and mineralogist by training, to reflect some of the stones that he found in the area:

The mineralogical appearances here were altogether so singular that I resolved to stop a day or two to examine them...

The other rocks were, noble serpentine - varying in colour to black green to a yellow, and from translucent to semitransparent, in strata nearly a yard wide -- steatite, or soap stone, verde antique diallege, and various other magnesian rocks (From: Cormack's Narrative of a Journey across the Island of Newfoundland, dated October 7th, 1822 cited in Young, 2018)

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/MountMoriah