Recommendations rarely fail us

 

Brigus

Brigus is a picturesque little town located on Conception Bay, just down the road from the town of Cupids, and only 80 kilometres from the capital of St. John’s. One of D’s hockey buddies recommended we visit there, and this recommendation did not disappoint!

The town was founded in 1612 (though oddly not incorporated until 1867) and is one of Newfoundland’s oldest settlements. To our delight, the town has maintained much of its heritage, and the streets are lined with homes dating back to the mid-19th century. Many visitors come to wander the rambling, paved streets (many of which were once meandering dirt-track cow paths) to photograph the lovingly restored homes and buildings like Hawthorne House, Kent Cottage, and the Stone Barn Museum.

Stone Barn Museum build in 1825 was once a doctor's house

This pretty house dates from 1869

St. Georges Heritage church - build in 1876

But one of the most intriguing and photographed sights in Brigus is most likely the Brigus Tunnel. A 30m long pathway leads you through a wall of solid rock from the town directly to a sheltered harbour on the other side. Blasted and drilled in 1860, the tunnel was built for Captain Abraham Bartlett. Bartlett owned a fishing vessel that was much too large to berth in the nearby harbour at Brigus, so he purchased land and hired a local miner to cut a hole in the rock large enough to allow horses and carts to go through with his precious cargo of fish.

Brigus Tunnel

At least, that’s what historians tells us. Local folklore tells a different story, one of rum runners and contraband and a pirate’s treasure. I must admit, standing inside that darkened tunnel, it was easy to imagine seeing the ghosts of those pirates sneaking by with their loot, rather than simply carting Bartlett’s fishy catch into the village.