Brigus

Brigus produced an extraordinary number of sealing and Arctic captains in the nineteenth century, of whom Bob Bartlett is the best known: he took Peary north on the 1909 expedition and, when his ship Karluk was crushed in Arctic ice in 1914, walked and sledged across the ice and Siberia to organise a rescue that saved most of the crew. His house, Hawthorne Cottage, is preserved. A tunnel cut through solid rock in 1860 by a Cornish miner gave a merchant access to deeper water for his ships. The village is stone lanes and gardens on a steep harbour, with a blueberry festival in August.

History

The name comes from Brickhouse, an old town in England, and around 1612 John Guy sold half of the harbour to the Spracklin family, with settlers from England, Ireland and Wales following. Brigus became famous for its sea captains: in 1819 Captain William Munden built the Four Brothers, the first hundred-ton schooner in Newfoundland, and the Bartletts sailed with Arctic explorers, among them Captain Robert Bartlett, master of the Roosevelt when Peary reached the North Pole; the waterfront tunnel was bored through solid rock in 1860 to give their ships a deep-water berth (Wikipedia, Brigus).

The main sights

• Hawthorne Cottage - Captain Bob Bartlett's house, preserved as a museum.
• The Brigus tunnel - a passage cut through rock in 1860 for ship access.
• The stone lanes - narrow walled paths through a steep harbour village.
• The sealing history - the captains this small place sent to the ice.

When to go

June to September; Hawthorne Cottage is seasonal and the blueberry festival is in August. The village is quiet and largely shut in winter.

Good to know

The museum has limited seasonal hours. The village is small and walked in an hour. Parking on the narrow lanes is difficult.

Nearby

Cupids lies close; St. John's is southeast.

Key facts