Harbour Grace Attractions

Highways 72 and 70 lead onto the Port-de-Grace Peninsula, with its lovely coast and scenic fishing settlements, chief among them being Harbour Grace. This flourishing little town on Conception Bay gets its name from "Havre de Grace", as it was christened by the French in the early 16th c. At one time the second biggest town on Newfoundland, a series of massive fires between 1814 and 1944 slowed down development of this "harbour of grace".

It is probably the only place in Canada to have a monument to a pirate. Captain Peter Easton based himself here in 1610 and pressed hundreds of Newfoundlanders into his buccaneer fleet, beating a French squadron in 1611. Eventually, having amassed an immense fortune from plundering the ships of all nations, he retired to Savoie in France as a Marquis.