Cape Spear

Template:Short description Template:Use Canadian English Template:Use mdy dates Template:For Template:Infobox landform Cape Spear (Template:Langx) is a headland located on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland near St. John's in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. At a longitude of 52°37'Template:NbspW, it is the easternmost point in Canada and North America excluding Greenland.<ref name="staveley">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Cape Spear is within the municipal boundaries of the city of St. John's, located about Template:Convert from downtown St. John's.<ref name="tourism">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Portuguese named this location {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, meaning "cape of hope", which became {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in French and finally "Cape Spear".

Cape Spear is the trailhead/trail end for two components of the East Coast Trail.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

HistoryEdit

The Cape Spear regionTemplate:Clarify was originally inhabited by Beothuk peoples.<ref name="Fife-Roseman">Fife, Wayne; Roseman, Sharon R. "Where North America Ends," The Tourism Imaginary and Pilgrimages to the Edges of the World. Tourism and Cultural Change, vol. 44. Channel View Publications, 2015. Web. p.143-144. Retrieved from Google Books; March 12, 2017. Template:ISBN</ref> Additionally, Mi'kmaq communities practiced a non-sedentary presence in the area,Template:Which<ref name=Fife-Roseman/><ref name="Martijn">Martijn, Charles A. "Early Mikmaq Presence in Southern Newfoundland: An Ethnohistorical Perspective, c.1500-1763". Vol. 19, No 1: The New Early Modern Newfoundland: Part 2, Newfoundland and Labrador Studies. St. John's, Newfoundland: Memorial University, 2003. Web. n. pag. Retrieved March 12, 2017. {{#if:1715-1430|Template:Catalog lookup link{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}{{#if:Template:Trim|{{#ifeq:Template:Yesno-no|yes|Template:Main other|{{#invoke:check isxn|check_issn|Template:Trim|error=Template:Error-small Template:Main other}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}|Template:Error-small}}</ref> harvesting subsistence resources on a temporary basis prior to permanent residency at settlements such as St. George's Bay and Conne River from the nineteenth century onwards.<ref name=Martijn/> In contrast to European settlers who viewed the cape as a place of significance as the easternmost point in Canada, there is no known archaeological evidence to indicate that Cape Spear was viewed by local Indigenous communities as a place of symbolic geographical importance.<ref name=Fife-Roseman/> According to Fife and Roseman, historically there are "no indications that either the Beothuk or the Mi'kmaq equated Cape Spear with a 'land's end' that was meaningful to them."<ref name=Fife-Roseman/>

World War IIEdit

File:Cape Spear Nfld WWII battery.jpg

World War II battery

Because of its proximity to convoy routes during the Second World War, a Canadian-manned gun battery including two Lend-Lease ex-US 10-inch M1888 guns on disappearing carriages was installed at Cape Spear to defend the entrance to St. John's harbor. Barracks and underground passages leading to the bunkers were built for the use of troops stationed there. The gun barrels remain in place.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The bunkers and gun barrels that are located at the site afford a sheltered view of the ocean.

LighthousesEdit

A lighthouse has operated at Cape Spear since September 1836. The original Cape Spear lighthouse was the second lighthouse built in Newfoundland; the first was built in 1810 at Fort Amherst, at the entrance to St. John's Harbour. In 1832, the first legislative assembly for the colony created a lighthouse board. Cape Spear was chosen as the site for a new lighthouse because it was on the rocky eastern coast near the entrance to St. John's harbor.

Nicholas Croke and William Parker, two St. John's builders, won the contract for the lighthouse and work began in 1834 or early in 1835.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The first lighthouse was a square wooden building with a tower in the middle containing the light. A foghorn was added in 1878. The first light used at Cape Spear had already been used since 1815 at a lighthouse on Inchkeith on the east coast of Scotland. The original light used seven Argand burners and curved reflectors. This was later replaced by a dioptric lens system; the light was first lit by oil, then acetylene, and finally electricity in 1930.

A new concrete lighthouse was built in 1955, and the original light was moved to the new building.<ref name="tourism" />

LightkeepersEdit

In 1835, dense fog enveloped an approaching warship carrying a VIP visitor to St. John's. The Governor sent out several pilot boats, and a young harbour pilot names James Cantwell succeeded in locating the ship and guiding it safely into harbour. Asked what reward he would like, he requested the job of keeper at the Cape Spear lighthouse, then under construction. It had been promised to another man, Emmanuel Warre, but when Warre died ten years later Cantwell became the second keeper. He served for 35 years; his son Dennis, who had been his assistant, later took over and, with two intermissions, the Cantwell family kept the Cape Spear light for over 150 years.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

List of Keepers<ref>Cape Spear Lighthouse Template:Webarchive Lighthouse Friends</ref>
Name	Years
Emanuel Warre	1836–1846
James Cantwell	1846–1879
Austin Oke Sheppard	1880–1886
Dennis Cantwell	1886–1909
James Cantwell	1909–1918
William Cantwell	1918–1925
Jack Cantwell	1925–1939
Weston Cantwell	1939–1944
Frank Cantwell	1944–1965
Martin Hefferan	1965–1982
Gerald Cantwell	1982–1997

National Historic SiteEdit

The original Cape Spear lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and the location has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.<ref>Template:CRHP</ref> The original lighthouse building and the lightkeeper's residence have been restored to the period of 1839, and are open to the public. The visitor centre includes a gift shop. The lighthouse was designated under the federal Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act in June 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Some visitors attracted by the scenery and history have been swept away by the large and unpredictable waves at Cape Spear, prompting Parks Canada to post numerous warning signs in the area.

Radar StationEdit

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Cape Spear Radar Station (Prime) was a United States Army General Surveillance Ground Radar Early Warning Station in the Dominion of Newfoundland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was built during World War II and responsible for monitoring air traffic from RCAF Torbay and into the Atlantic Ocean.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was closed in 1945.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The site was established in 1942 as a United States Ground Radar Early Warning Station, funded by the United States Army,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which stationed the 685th Air Warning Company on the site under operational control of Newfoundland Base Command at Pepperrell Air Force Base.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Three officers and 49 enlisted men of the 685th were assigned to Cape Spear.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It operated an SCR-271 manned Early-warning radar with information sent to a plotting center at Pepperrell AFB to track aircraft. The station was assigned to Royal Canadian Air Force in November 1944, and was given designation "No 42 RU". The RCAF operated the station until 20 June, 1945.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

United States Army Air Forces units and assignmentsEdit

Units:

685th Air Warning Squadron, 1943

Inactivated November 1944

Assignments:

Newfoundland Base Command, Winter 1943

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist Template:AFHRA

Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980,[1] Template:Webarchive Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980)