St. Anthony: Located north of the entrance to Hare Bay, today St. Anthony is the largest community in the area and as such serves as a main service centre for neighboring communities.

Used in the early 15th century by French and Basque fishermen as a seasonal fishing station, according to the town's website, St. Anthony (St-Antoine) was named in 1534 by the French explorer Jacques Cartier.

According to the town's website, given that it "held a strategic location to rich fishing grounds and a haven to fishing fleets, it was later named 'St. Anthony Haven"".

According to Wikipedia contributors, St. Anthony or Anthony of Padua (1195 -1231), also known as Anthony of Lisbon was a Portuguese Catholic priest and Friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised by a wealthy family in Portugal, and died in Padua, Italy. He was "noted by his contemporaries for his powerful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick, he was one of the most quickly canonized saints in church history".

Slowly the population of the community of St. Anthony grew to the point that there were 139 people living full-time there by 1891. St. Anthony's most famous citizen, Dr. Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, a British doctor who dedicated his life to looking after people living in remote ports of Newfoundland and Labrador lived there.

Over time he established a string of hospitals, an orphanage, several cooperatives and school, with a "caseload" of more than 30,000 residents. The population of St. Anthony in 2016 was 2,258, a decrease of 6.6% from 2011 when 2,418 town folk were recorded.

Nearby St. Anthony's Bight was originally known as Havre St. Mein (St. Mein Harbour) as it is on a bay of the same name. According the United States Hydrographic Office (1884): "St. Mein bay runs in NW. 3 miles nearly from Cape St. Anthony, and is 1 1⁄4 miles wide at the entrance between that cape and Fox point the west point of the entrance.

The water is deep, and the bay is completely open to southerly winds. On the east side of the bay at 14 miles from Cape St. Anthony, is a small fishing village". According to the NP website, that "small fishing village", St. Anthony Bight, "was also a fishing station for the French, but was less favored by them than nearby St. Anthony".

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/StAnthonyNL