St. Jacques-Coomb's Cove
Welcome
The Town of St. Jacques – Coomb's Cove is located on the North Shore of Fortune Bay on the South Coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in what is know as the Coast of Bays Region. St. Jacques – Coomb's Cove was incorporated in 1972 with the amalgamation of six communities along a 22 kilometer section of Route 363 beginning in the east with the community of St. Jacques and heading west to include the communities of English Harbour West, Mose Ambrose, Boxey, Wreck Cove and Coomb's Cove. The town is bordered to the West by the Connaigre Peninsula and to the east by the Town of Belleoram.
May Newsletter
May Newsletter.pdfIn the 1700's, fishermen from France, The Channel Islands and the Southern Counties of England established seasonal fishing stations along the south coast to prosecute the inshore fishery, to grow vegetables and dry their fish.
In the early 1800's, Newman Company, based in London, England, established a large plantation at Harbour Breton to age their Port Wines and with all the essentials for carrying on a large-scale fishing and trading operation. The company imported fishing servants from England, Ireland and the Channel Islands to work on the plantation at Harbour Breton and to establish fishing stations along the coast. The early settlers along the coast were the fishing servants brought to Newfoundland by Newman Company.
The inshore and offshore fishery was the mainstay of the economy. Many fished inshore from small boats catching cod, herring, lobster and salmon. Others fished on the banking schooners owned by the Petite family of English Hr. West, the Burke family of St. Jacques, as well as schooners from Belleoram, Grand Bank and major centres for the banking fishery in Nova Scotia including Lunenburg, Louisburg and Mulgrave. With the advent of the trawler fishery, many fishermen made the transition, fishing out of the trawler towns Harbour Breton, Grand Bank, and Fortune as well as fishing centers in Nova Scotia.
There was a major shift in the economy with the major reduction in the inshore and offshore fishery under the Cod Moratorium of 1992. Many had to give up their traditional way of life and seek employment elsewhere. They found work in the industrial centres of Ontario and the oil fields of Alberta. Eventually, many of those workers resettled their young families to Alberta and Ontario. As a result, our communities underwent a major decline in population. According to the census of 2016, the population of St. Jacques – Coomb's Cove was 588.
Conrad Fitzgerald Academy, the all-grade school for Fortune Bay North shore is located at English Hr. West. Also, the Canada Post outlet for the municipality is located there. The Medical Clinic, Fire Hall and Council Office building are located at Mose Ambrose.
St. Jacques – Coomb's Cove is 200km south from the Trans Canada Highway following Route 360.
We invite you to come and visit our beautiful, scenic town.