World Heritage Sites of Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador has no less than four designated UNESCO Word Heritage Sites.
1. L’Anse aux Meadows
Recreated Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador. Source: ID 126212222 @ Gnagel | Dreamstime.com
Arguably the most reknown Word Heritage Site in Newfoundland.
Newfoundland is the site of the only authenticated Norse settlement in North America outside of Greenland. Research indicates the settlement dates to about the year 1000, and the site contains the earliest-known European structures in North America. Located near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, the site was discovered in 1960 by the Norwegian husband-wife team of Helge and Anne Ingstad. Artifacts found at the site shown evidence of iron production and woodworking, probably used in necessary ship repairs.
The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1968 and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978.
2. Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve
Ediacaran fossils, with a penny for size comparison. These fossils are among the oldest, largest, complex-life forms found anywhere on Earth. Source: Alicejmichel, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Located at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, Mistaken Point is one the world’s most significant fossil sites.
Named for the navigational hazard it poses at the often-foggy site, it is a world frozen in time. It is the best place in the world to view a 565-million-year-old sea floor that accurately preserves the ecology of these deep sea communities.
Mistaken Point was named a Word Heritage Site in 2016. No motorized vehicles of any type, including off-road vehicles (ATV’s) or snowmobiles, are allowed in the Reserve. Bicycles and horses are also not allowed. To view the fossils in the Reserve, visitors must take a guide tour.
3. Red Bay Fishing Village
Red Bay Village. Source: NorthernLight at German Wikipedia, creative commons via Wikimedia Commons
Red Bay is a natural harbour in Labrador that gets it’s name from the bay where it is located and from the reference to the red granite cliffs of the region.
In the Bay are Penney Island and Saddle Island, which were used by the Basques for their whaling operations between 1530 and the early 17th century. Several whaling ships, both large galleons and small chalupas, sank there and their discovery led to Red Bay being designated a Word Heritage Site in 2013.
4. Gros Morne National Park
Western Brook Pond, a fresh water fjord carved out by glaciers. Source: Adavyd, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Colliding continents and grinding glaciers shaped Gros Morne’s ancient landscape. Located on the west coast of Newfoundland, takes it name from Newfoundland’s second-highest mountain peak. In French it means ‘large mountain standing alone’. The Park provides a rare example of the process of continental drift.
It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.