Trinity is a small town located on Trinity Bay in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

. The town contains a number of buildings recognized as Registered Heritage Structures by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador.

History

The harbour at Trinity was first used by fishing ships around the 16th century. The

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

explorer Gaspar Corte-Real named the location "Trinity" as he arrived on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: th ...

, 1501 although another account gives his arrival as 1500. Fishermen from the West Country of England began using Trinity as a summer station in the migratory fishery in the 1570s. Summer fishermen continued to be primarily from the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

, especially

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

, and Weymouth in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

until a permanent settlement was established. Trinity was settled by merchants from Poole, England during the 18th century, citing reasons such as the easily defensible harbour and abundance of shore space for fishing premises. Trinity was the site that Sir Richard Whitbourne held the first court of Admiralty in 1615, establishing the first court of justice in North America. The merchant trade in Trinity was significant and dominated the social and economic life from Baie Verte to White Bay (Newfoundland and Labrador). At times, merchants in Trinity exported upwards of 30-40% of cod, train oil, and seals produced in Newfoundland. By the late 18th Century, the merchant firms in Trinity were operatoring 35 ocean-going ships, exporting 100,000 quintals of dried cod and supplying about 6,000 inhabitants. A fort was established at Admiral's Point near Trinity in order to protect the assets of the merchants. Due to Trinity's prominence in the British-Newfoundland trade, it was attacked and twice captured by the French in the Anglo-French Wars of 1696–1713, first in 1696 and again in 1705. Both times, the properties of the residents were burnt. Trinity was again captured by the French during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

by Admiral de Ternay. Trinity was the site of medical research, including the introduction of the

smallpox vaccine The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...

to the new world in 1798 by

John Clinch John Clinch (January 9, 1749 – November 22, 1819) was a clergyman-physician credited with being the first man to practice vaccination in North America. Biography He was born in Cirencester, England, one of twin children of Thomas Clinch of Ber ...

, a boyhood friend and medical colleague of

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...

. Religious activities in Trinity date back to the early years. The first parochial church was built in 1729 and Rev. Robert Kilpatrick, the first missionary of the Society for Propagation of the Gospel, arrived. During a tumultuous time in Trinity's history, a visiting

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

preacher, John Hoskins, was tarred by sailors in 1780 - a resident Methodist preacher did not arrive until 1816. Construction on a new

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

began in 1820 and housed the Rev.

Aubrey Spencer Aubrey George Spencer (8 February 1795 – 24 February 1872)''DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF JAMAICA'' The Morning Post (London, England), Monday, 26 February 1872; pg. 6; Issue 30645 was the first bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Newfoundland and Ber ...

who later became the first

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

bishop of the diocese of Newfoundland and

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. In 1827, St. Paul's Church in Trinity was consecrated by Bishop Inglis of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. For this occasion, the hymn "We Love the Place, O Lord" was composed by Rev. William Bullock and has since gained widespread use. The decline of Trinity began in the mid-19th century as major firms reduced their direct overseas trade and began to rely on commercial links with St. John's. The Ryan brothers of King's Cove and Bonavista continued their retail and general supply trade on the Lester-Garland Plantation until 1947. The

Trinity Record The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, a weekly newspaper, was in print in Trinity from 1886 to 1900. Trinity was incorporated as a town in 1969. On September 6, 1996 an F2 tornado touched down in the town, damaging homes and a shipyard building. According to the 2016 Statistics Canada Census, the population of Trinity increased 23.4% from 2011 to 2016 and had 132 dwellings.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Trinity had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Arts and culture

Trinity is home to the Rising Tide Theatre Festival, founded by Artistic Director

Donna Butt Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People *Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), Ita ...

Popular culture

Trinity was used as a filming location for the 2001 film '' The Shipping News'' and for the 2002 television miniseries '' Random Passage''. Trinity is the birthplace of Bob Fowler, an olympic runner who competed at the

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

and 1906 olympic games. In 1909, Fowler set the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for fastest time in a marathon, finishing in 2:52:45.4 at a race in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...

. File:NLE Trinity2 tango7174.jpg, Church of the Most Holy Trinity File:NLE Trinity3 tango7174.jpg, Parish Hall File:Historical Building - Courthouse, Gaol, General Building (Trinity, Trinity Bight, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada).jpg, Courthouse, Gaol, General Building File:Lester-Garland Premises and the Rising Tide Theatre (Trinity, Trinity Bight, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada).jpg, Lester-Garland Premises and the Rising Tide Theatre

References

External links