Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site

Cupids, Newfoundland and Labrador, approx 1 hour from St. John's.
How to get here.

Visit this site

How much time do you have?

1-2 hours: Tour the archaeological dig site at Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site, and take a look round the exhibits at the Cupids Legacy Centre.

4-5 hours:

  • Tour the Cupids Legacy Centre to get a background to the story of John's Guy's colony.
  • Walk along the waterfront to the Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site - the archaeology dig site to see the cobblestone floors and foundations of buildings the colonists built 400 years ago. Talk to an archaeologist here about what they're finding this summer.
  • Stay in Cupids for lunch. Go to one of the town's restaurants or take a picnic down to the waterfront.
  • Walk one of the many trails around Cupids - trails that the colonists would have walked 400 years ago: up Spectacle Head, or to Burnt Head. Along the Burnt Head Trail, look for the foundations of homes whose residents resettled in the 20th century. You'll find trail maps on the Cupids 400 website.

1 day:

  • Spend the morning in Cupids learning all about Canada's first English settlers at the Cupids Legacy Centre and the archaeology dig site at Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site.
  • Eat lunch in either Cupids or Brigus, 10 minutes away. Both communities have excellent restaurants serving local fare.
  • Spend the afternoon strolling around the canals of Brigus - a town famous for being the home of some of the province's most successful 19th century sealing captains - and the beautiful Victorian homes they built. Visit Hawthorne Cottage - the home of polar explorer Bob Bartlett, now a National Historic Site.

Looking for something more in depth?

Two-day tour - a must for archaeology and history buffs:

Retrace the footsteps of some of Canada's first English settlers and go much farther back - to people who thrived here 3,000 years ago.

  • Begin at Cupids. Spend the day at the Cupids Legacy Centre, the Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site and hike one of the trails around the  community.
  • Head up to Bay Roberts. In the 1913 era Cable Building, interactive exhibits highlight the merchant story of the area. Don't miss the Christopher Pratt Art Gallery, also located in this building.
  • Drive to the community of Dildo (across to the Trinity Bay side of the peninsula on Route 73). Here you can visit the Dildo and Area Interpretation Centre. See artifacts excavated from Dildo Island which were made by people hunting and gathering in this area 3,000 years ago. Dildo Island was designated in 2010 as a Place of Provincial Significance. Find out more on the Provincial Historic Commemorations site. At the Interpretation Centre, ask about the 2 km walk to Anderson's Cove, where more artifacts have been found.
  • Stop into the Heart's Content Cable Station Provincial Historic Site to see the cable that joined Europe and North America for the first time in 1866.
  • Drive to New Perlican - settled in 1675 - and visit the Fred Grant Memorial Building to see some of the 12,000 17th century artifacts recovered from excavations at the Hefford Plantation.
  • Go to the Winterton Boat Building Museum to see a boat builder at work. Summer 2010 - watch as a life-size version of the frame of the Indeavour, one of John Guy's vessels, is reconstructed.
  • Keep going up to the tip of the peninsula to see the unique rock walls which early settlers used to divide up argicultural land in Grates Cove - now designated as a National Historic Site.

For more about the area's rich history and archaeology go to the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation

Two-day trip for avid hikers:

  • Hike Crout's Way - Retrace the route taken in 1612 by Henry Crout and a group of colonists from the plantation at Cuper's Cove to Trinity Bay. Their intention? To make contact with the Beothuk Indians. Trailheads can be found at Drogheda just west of South River in Conception Bay, at Hopeall in Trinity Bay, and at a number of places in between. The full trail is a hard two-day hike for experienced hikers. Hike at your own risk.

    Links to more about this hike:
    Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation: Crout's Way
    Baccalieu Crossroads for Culture: Crout's Way

More to do around Cupids and along the Baccalieu Trail