Settlement History

The area encompassing Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove was within the boundaries of lands granted to the London and Bristol Company in 1610. In 1627, the company experienced financial difficulties and evidently made lands available to private groups. The name Logy Bay itself first appeared on a Southwoods map in 1675. Despite this, permanent settlement did not begin until the early 1800’s. The earliest record of settlement in Logy Bay was in 1818 when Luke Ryan, a fisherman, sought permission to build a fishing room. The earliest records of settlement in Outer Cove and Middle Cove appear around 1827, but occupation here most likely predated this year.

The early settlers of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove were Irish immigrants predominately from the Counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and Cork. In particular, the town of Inistioge in Kilkenny was the origin of most of the pioneers of Logy Bay. These early settlers were attracted to the area by the easy access to the excellent fishing grounds that lay just offshore and by the good farmland that dotted the region.

Between 1827 and 1830 there were 9 petitions for land in Logy Bay, 3 in Middle Cove and 30 in Outer Cove. By the 1850’s, the Irish had established themselves here and proceeded to shape the landscape. Irish heritage is still strong here today and can be seen through such things as religion, folkways, music, and dialect.

Source: The Logy Bay - Middle Cove - Outer Cove Heritage Committee

Lifestyles

Lifestyles in this area saw a major change around 1841. In that year tow prominent members of the Roads Board, James Douglas and Lawrence O’Brien, were instrumental in getting a good road completed from St. John’s to the Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove area. With a link to the markets in the city, resident traveled to St. John’s to sell products such as salted and fresh fish, milk, and fresh meats. As a spinoff to this increased travel, the women of the area would accompany their husbands to town and pick up laundry from homes in the city. This laundry would be washed and dried in the fresh Atlantic air (as opposed to the air in the city) and them returned to the customers on the following trip.

Another major change to the wry of life here came in the 1940’s with the building of the Torbay Airport and the American Military Base at Pleasantville. Many residents of communities left the fishing/farming way of life for employment at these two facilities.

Source: The Logy Bay - Middle Cove - Outer Cove Heritage Committee

History of Logy Bay, Middle Cove and
Outer Cove

Logy Bay

The term "logy" means heavy and sluggish, and may have been applied to this community to refer to cod made "lazy" from eating caplin. The community had a population of 200 people in 1869, with 21 farming families and 10 engaged in the fishery. Farming was initially done on a haphazard, subsistence basis, but by the late nineteenth century people were selling milk and vegetables door to door in St. John's. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries fishing rooms were built at the base of the cliffs, and in summer entire families moved into these temporary dwellings along with their farm animals. Catches had to be hauled with winches as much as 300 feet up the cliffs.

In the mid-1800s a freshwater spring high in iron concentrates was discovered and won some recognition for its supposed medicinal qualities. Advertisements appeared in local papers in 1888 inviting the public to visit a spa built at the spring, but the venture soon collapsed. In 1942 an American artillery battery was built and manned for the duration of the war at Red Cliff and during the Korean War a radar station was erected at the site. In 1967 Memorial University's Marine Sciences Research Laboratory was built in Dyer's Cove.

Middle Cove

This community was smaller than its neighbors, the 1869 census listing 80 residents. At that time Middle Cove had eight farming and three fishing families, although it is unlikely that people relied on just the one occupation. Prior to World War II there were three commercial dairy farms and 15-20 fishing stages at Middle Cove. When the U.S. armed forces arrived in the 1940s fishing activity ceased as the older men worked on the American base in Pleasantville, while many of the younger men from the area went to bases in Greenland and Frobisher Bay. Following the War, farming largely died out, although a daily farm operated by the Kelly family was still active in 1991. In 1979 Middle Cove beach became a Provincial park. It is a favorite site for the annual Caplin Scull, attracting thousands of people each June.

Outer Cove

In 1836 there were 58 houses and 62 boats in Outer Cove, and a population of 305 -- the majority of the people being Roman Catholic. The population was 246 in 1869, consisting of 32 farming and three fishing families. Locally produced fresh milk was sold in the 1830s according to members of the Pine family whose ancestors still raised dairy cattle in 1991. Outer Cove has gained a degree of fame for its rowing crews. A men's crew established a record at the 1901 St. John's Regatta on Quidi Vidi Lake which lasted until 1981.

Settlement History

History of Logy Bay, Middle Cove and Outer Cove

Logy Bay

Middle Cove

Outer Cove

History of Logy Bay, Middle Cove and
Outer Cove