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The story of Birchy Bay is one of hardship, joy, and tears. Today, the communities are a much different place than they were in the 1800's, however the spirit that gave birth to the communities in the Bay still thrives. We have documented the lives of the early settlers.

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Jumpers Head - View from Jumpers Brook Estuary
Summer 2008
Jumpers brook, Bay of Exploits, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada

Credits:
Desmond Canning

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The story of Birchy Bay possibly began thousands of years ago with the first native people who canoed into our bay. Their voices were the first to echo in the many coves while in search of hunting grounds. The Europeans came next into the bays being more adventurous looking for salmon rivers or timber to build ships. Travelling into our bay must have been a sight for them. Even to our founding pioneers who came and made Birchy Bay their home.

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Although Birchy Bay was thought to have been one of the latter communities to have been settled in Notre Dame Bay, records show otherwise. They show that there were people living in the bay during the 1830s. However they did move out of this area and it is a story which has been clouded with history. The first family had lived on an island at the mouth of the bay and had been farming and catching salmon. This was their means of livelihood which may have diminished with time and because of a death they decided to leave.

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Pioneer Family Of Birchy Bay
1905-1920
Birchy Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada

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John Canning, the son of one of Birchy Bay's earliest pioneers decided to return to Birchy Bay to live In 1887. He came to live in Muddy Cove, Birchy Bay with his wife and family. Here he was close to the grave of his father who had died several years earlier and was buried on Canning`s Island.
His good friend James Mews along with his wife who happened to be Johns adopted sister moved to the Bight in Birchy Bay.

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Amelia Mews-Pioneer Woman of Birchy Bay
1920-1930
Birchy Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada

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In the years following, men such as Jeremiah Canning, Andrew Boyde, John Keats, Hezekiah Mews, Richard Mews, Samuel Mews, Basil Osmond, Robert Pope, Jesse Mews, John Quinlan and Samuel Quinlan along with their families made Birchy Bay their home.

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First Ladies of Birchy Bay
1920's
Birchy Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada

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Although these people lived in almost absolute isolation they had no fear. They were hard working and never had time to be idle. The first women of Birchy Bay were often left alone with their families while their husbands went fishing. The women and their children were relied on to do most of the household chores and duties in the absense of the men.

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In the early 1900s there opened a trade in such scale that it employed every man in Birchy Bay. The Birchy Bay Lumber Company operated by the French Family had a mill at the point where Jumpers brook flows into the ocean. They cut logs in the winter time and drove them out the brook in the spring. Then the logs would be sawed into lumber that was shipped to market.
The French's were also ship builders and while here in Birchy Bay they built two schooners, a two master and a three master.

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Employees of the Birchy Bay Lumber Company
1910
Birchy Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada

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Birchy Bay Lumber Co. Sawmill
early 1900s
Birchy Bay, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada

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Out of a green forest, stands of birch, and a fast flowing stream Birchy Bay was born. Through labour of hard working men, enduring women and rambunctious children it became what it is today. This is the story of Birchy Bay.