Coachman's Cove is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

. The town had a population of 111 in the

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

History

Coachman's Cove was originally named ''Pot d'Etain'', which means Tin Pot Islands. It was incorporated in 1970 and is located north of Baie Verte on the east side of a promontory near a tip of the Baie Verte Peninsula. Its name was derived from Irish settlers who were living there year-round in the 1860s. The first permanent settlers to arrive in Coachman's Cove possibly came at the invitation of the French in the early 19th century to act as guardians of French stages and fishing equipment during the winter months. These settlers decided to stay and establish a permanent fishing settlement. Like other communities on the Baie Verte Peninsula, Coachman's Cove had a double identity and double population. During the summer the community had mostly French, Roman Catholic residents, who came from France to fish for

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

from June to September. During the winter months the population of Coachman's Cove was made up of

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

Newfoundlanders. The first names associated with the settlement were Downey, Bailey, Norman, Dobbin, Dow, Demfy, and Drover. It is likely that the large number of inhabitants recorded in the 1869 census included the French summer fishermen because the population of Coachman's Cove did not go above 200 again until 1921. Coachman's Cove was first recorded in the census of 1869, with 237 inhabitants. In 1872 there were fifty-one people living in the community. The building of the church there in 1872 showed the importance of the community to the French as a fishing station. By 1935, the population of Coachman's Cove was 295. The early settlers of Coachman's Cove depended mainly on the cod and

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

fisheries for their livelihood, but by 1935 the

lumbering Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks

and sawmilling industries became increasingly the main source of employment for the community. Five years later, in 1940, there were three sawmills and by 1950 lumbering had become the main employer in Coachman's Cove. In the winter months, the fishermen worked in the woods and in the local sawmills. It was reported that the sawmills in the area supplied the timber for all the piers on the northeast coast. By 1952, Coachman's Cove had a public wharf, a Credit Union and a two-room Roman Catholic school. During the 1960s Coachman's Cove was linked by road to other settlements on the Baie Verte Peninsula. The high rate of unemployment and the community's isolation made livelihood difficult in the 1960s and 1970s. Approximately 35 men went to work at the Asbestos mines in Baie Verte when it opened in 1963-64. The remainder of the people were employed as fishermen and seasonal labourers. Coachman's Cove today is a quaint quiet community and still shows signs of its French history. The uncovering of a new

Paleo-Eskimo The Paleo-Eskimo meaning ''"old Eskimos"'', also known as, pre-Thule people, Thule or pre-Inuit, were the peoples who inhabited the Arctic region from Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Chukotka (e.g., Chertov Ovrag) in present-day Russia across North Am ...

site in 1999-2000 shows that the area surrounding Coachman's Cove was inhabited approximately 3,000 years ago.

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 Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Coachman's Cove 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.

References

{{Subdivisions of Newfoundland and Labrador, towns=yes, ICG=yes Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador