Spaniard's Bay

Spaniard's Bay, NL, incorporated as a town in 1965, population 2622 (2011c), 2540 (2006c). The Town of Spaniard's Bay is located north of Bay Roberts on the west side of Conception Bay. The name is first recorded in the area in the early 1800s and probably commemorates the early Spanish or Basque fishermen who visited the area as early as the 1500s. Settlers may have been in the area in the early 1600s after the breakup of John Guy's colony. The fishing community recorded more than 1000 residents by 1857 and prospered, with other nearby communities, in the Labrador fishery during the 1800s. Today it is largely a residential community between the larger towns of Bay Roberts and Harbour Grace. Blueberry management (see Cultivated Berries), lumbering and pine plantations are industries located in rural Spaniards Bay.