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Located on the west coast of the Great Northern Peninsula on the most northern tip of the Gros Morne National Park, Cow Head was first named Cap Pointu by Jacques Cartier on June 16, 1534. However, French fishermen renamed the town Tête de Vache after a rock shaped like a cow’s head.
Traditionally divided into two parts, Winterside or “the main” and Summerside, “the head,” the divisions reflect the location of early settlers depending on the season. Each spring, families on Winterside moved their “goods and Chattels” over to their summer houses on the head and returned to the main in October when the fishing season ended. In the late 1960s when the Fisheries Resettlement Program was launched, most residents moved permanently to the main.
This Community Stories exhibit follows the development of Cow Head society until the second half of the twentieth century when social life in Cow Head still centred on church, school and family. Through stories and photographs from the time of the first inhabitants and well known characters’s from Cow Head’s past, visitors will follow the evolution of the town’s identity.
The Dr. Henry Payne Community Museum would like to thank everyone who contributed to this project.
