Greenspond - Culture

Culture

Demographics
Population in 2001 383
Population change from 1996 -9.9%
Median age 39.7
Number of families 115
Number of married couples 100
Total number of dwellings 135
Protestant 100%
Land Area (kmĀ².) 2.85

Statistics Canada detail demographics follow link here

The early inhabitants of Greenspond hailed from the West of England, mainly Dorset but also Devon, Hampshire, and Somerset. The names of these early settlers can still be found there today: Bishop, Blandford, Bragg, Burry, Burton, Butler, Carter, Chaytor, Crocker, Dominey, Dyke, Easton, Feltham, Granter, Green, Harding, Hawkins, Hoddinott, Hoskins, Hunt, Hutchins, Kean, Lovelace, Lush, Meadus, Mullett, Mullins, Oakley, Oldford, Osmond, Parsons, Pond, Rogers, Samson, Saunders, Smith, Stratton, Way, Wheeler, White, Wicks, Woodland, Wornell, Wright, and Young.

Gradually Greenspond acquired the services and facilities needed by a bustling commercial town. In 1848 there was a regular mail and passenger service, a fortnightly steamer, and a weekly overland route between Greenspond and St. John's. To insure the safety of the steamer into Greenspond after nightfall, the government erected a lighthouse in 1873 on Puffin Island at the approach to Greenspond harbour. In winter when the steamers did not run, the trains transported the mails to Gambo and from there couriers - often Micmac - carried it overland to Greenspond. John Joe, perhaps the most notable Micmac courier travelled for many years with his dogs from Gambo to Greenspond. The laying of a submarine cable between Greenspond and the Newfoundland mainland in 1885 and the subsequent provision of a telegraph service greatly enhanced Greenspond's communication with the rest of Newfoundland and the outside world. The turn of the 20th century marked Greenspond's zenith with a population of almost 2000, a resident doctor, magistrate, policeman, customs officer, clergy, postmaster, teachers, and numerous business enterprises. It can be said that Greenspond's export of human resources equals or exceeds its export in cod, seals, salmon and the like.

Throughout the 20th century the fishery remained the major economic enterprise of the people of Greenspond: a bait depot was established in 1946, a fresh-fish processing plant was built in 1957 and a smokehouse was opened in the 1970s. In 1951 the town was incorporated, and with municipal government came water and sewer facilities, improved light and power services, improvements in local roads and, perhaps, the most important of all, the construction of a causeway connecting Greenspond Island with the Newfoundland mainland. In the 1990s Greenspond continues to thrive, a superb example of a Newfoundland coastal community which has survived and prospered for three hundred years despite the inherent fluctuations in a fishing economy.

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