L'Anse Amour

L'Anse Amour

Anse aux Morts (*Cove of the Dead*)
L'Anse Amour Anse aux Morts (Cove of the Dead)
Hamlet
	Rocks, iceberg, Strait of Belle Isle
Country	Canada
Province	Newfoundland and Labrador
Time zone	UTC-3:30 (Newfoundland Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-2:30 (Newfoundland Daylight)
Area code	709
Highways	Route 510 (Trans-Labrador Highway)

L'Anse Amour (/ˈlænsəmɔːr/) (Cove of Love), romanticized version of Anse aux Morts (Cove of the Dead), is a hamlet located on the north shore of the Strait of Belle Isle,^[1] Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.^[2]

As of 2006, it had a population of 8.^[2] The population of the village has not been officially counted since, though the total population of Subdivision 10A, which includes L'Anse Amour was 55 in 2021 (down from 61 in 2016).^[3] L'Anse Amour is located on Trans-Labrador Highway (Route 510).

Demographics

The figures below pertain to Division No. 10, Subd. A, which includes L'Anse Amour.

Population, 2021: 55
Population, 2016: 61
Population change, 2016-2021: -9.8 percent
Area (square kilometers): 3,755.19

No statistics for the town of L'Anse Amour itself are available, though a tourist Web site lists the town's population at 8.

History

Human activity in the area dates back at least 8,300 years. The oldest evidence for this is a burial mound of a Maritime Archaic boy.^[4] His body was wrapped in a shroud of bark or hide and placed face down with his head pointed to the west. A sign at the site describes the significance of the burial mound and reproductions of artifacts found there are located at the Labrador Straits Museum in L'Anse au Loup, Labrador. The burial mound site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1978.^[5]^[6]

Burial mound
The prehistoric burial mound at L'Anse Amour^[6]
Burial mound plaque

Icebergs and a narrow passage make the Strait of Belle Isle a hazardous body of water. At L'Anse Amour, the Gulf of St. Lawrence flows into the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Belle Isle. The wreck of one of the ships to go aground in the passage, HMS Raleigh, is located near Point Amour. A trail along the shore allows visitors to see the rusting remains of the ship, which went aground on August 8, 1922 and was demolished by explosives in 1926.

Strait of Belle Isle
Remains of an iceberg in July
Light cruiser HMS Raleigh,^[7] lost on 8 August 1922
Point Amour Lighthouse, Forteau Bay^[8]

Attractions

L'Anse Amour was nominated in a 2007 CBC Seven Wonders of Canada competition. The nomination cited the seven friendly population of the hamlet and attractions of the area.^[9]

The tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada is located at nearby Point Amour. A Maritime Archaic mound burial dating to 7500 years ago, L' Anse Amour Burial National Historic Site, is also located nearby.

References

^ "Strait of Belle Isle". Gouvernement of Quebec (in French). Commission de Toponymy Quebec. 13 December 1988. Retrieved 14 August 2024. In addition to Grande Bay, this arm of the sea had notably borne the names of Friar Lewis, on maps from 1505, then Gulf of Chasteaulx, Charles Streights and Passage du Nord which a cartographer describes as "subject to Glaces" later in the 16th and during the 17th century.
^ ^a ^b "L'Anse Amour, Community Profile". Labrador Coastal Drive. 2005. Retrieved 20 August 2024. Come here to discover a pure land on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean.
^ "Statistics Canada. 2023. (table). Census Profile. 2021 Census of Population". Newfoundland and Labrador [Census subdivision]. 15 November 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2024. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2021001.
^ "L'Anse Amour National Historic Site of Canada". Parks Canada Agency. Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. April 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2024. it features the oldest known First Nations funerary monument in North America created about 7,700 years before present.
^ L'Anse Amour. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b Mélanie Fafard; Robert McGhee (15 March 2006). "L'Anse Amour archeology site". 'Encyclopédie Canadienne. Retrieved 20 August 2024. It is covered with large rocks which protect an empty burial vault placed on a bed of stones.
^ Marc Milner (2005). "Raleigh on the Rocks: The Canada Shipwreck of HMS Raleigh" (PDF). Newfoundland Studies, 2. Faculty of Arts, Memorial University. p. 3. Retrieved 20 August 2024. ON 8 AUGUST 1922 the new Cavendish class light cruiser HMS Raleigh drove aground on the rocks below the Amour Point lighthouse on the Labrador coast.
^ "Point Amour Lighthouse". Provincial Historic Sites. Retrieved 21 August 2024. Climb the 128 steps to the top of the lighthouse tower – the second tallest in Canada. Bring your binoculars to get a better view of icebergs and whales.
^ "L'Anse Amour - Village of Seven, Labrador/Newfoundland". CBC - Radio Canada. Seven wonders of Canada. 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024. That's right – there are only seven members of this cozy town – all of them members of the friendly Davis family.

External links

Toponymic and Cartographic Research - Conducted for the Labrador Métis Nation, September 2008
Carte de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador, Teacher resource book, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 1984, P. 71
L'Anse Amour Burial National Historic Site
Statistics Canada

51°28′26.70″N 56°52′12.11″W / 51.4740833°N 56.8700306°W / 51.4740833; -56.8700306

[Strait_of_Belle_Isle,_toponymy-1] "Strait of Belle Isle". Gouvernement of Quebec (in French). Commission de Toponymy Quebec. 13 December 1988. Retrieved 14 August 2024. In addition to Grande Bay, this arm of the sea had notably borne the names of Friar Lewis, on maps from 1505, then Gulf of Chasteaulx, Charles Streights and Passage du Nord which a cartographer describes as "subject to Glaces" later in the 16th and during the 17th century.

[L'Anse_Amour,_Community_Profile-2] "L'Anse Amour, Community Profile". Labrador Coastal Drive. 2005. Retrieved 20 August 2024. Come here to discover a pure land on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean.

[Statistics_Canada._2023._(table)._Census_Profile._2021_Census_of_Population.-3] "Statistics Canada. 2023. (table). Census Profile. 2021 Census of Population". Newfoundland and Labrador [Census subdivision]. 15 November 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2024. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2021001.

[L'Anse_Amour_National_Historic_Site_of_Canada-4] "L'Anse Amour National Historic Site of Canada". Parks Canada Agency. Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. April 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2024. it features the oldest known First Nations funerary monument in North America created about 7,700 years before present.

[5] L'Anse Amour. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 8 July 2012.

[L’Anse_Amour_archeology_site-6] Mélanie Fafard; Robert McGhee (15 March 2006). "L'Anse Amour archeology site". 'Encyclopédie Canadienne. Retrieved 20 August 2024. It is covered with large rocks which protect an empty burial vault placed on a bed of stones.

[Raleigh_on_the_Rocks:_The_Canada_Shipwreck_of_HMS_Raleigh.-7] Marc Milner (2005). "Raleigh on the Rocks: The Canada Shipwreck of HMS Raleigh" (PDF). Newfoundland Studies, 2. Faculty of Arts, Memorial University. p. 3. Retrieved 20 August 2024. ON 8 AUGUST 1922 the new Cavendish class light cruiser HMS Raleigh drove aground on the rocks below the Amour Point lighthouse on the Labrador coast.

[Point_Amour_Lighthouse,_Provincial_Historic_Sites-8] "Point Amour Lighthouse". Provincial Historic Sites. Retrieved 21 August 2024. Climb the 128 steps to the top of the lighthouse tower – the second tallest in Canada. Bring your binoculars to get a better view of icebergs and whales.

[Seven_wonders_of_Canada-9] "L'Anse Amour - Village of Seven, Labrador/Newfoundland". CBC - Radio Canada. Seven wonders of Canada. 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024. That's right – there are only seven members of this cozy town – all of them members of the friendly Davis family.

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