Cape Spear

Cape Spear, elev 75 m, most easterly point in N America (excluding Greenland), is located 6.7 km SE of the entrance to St John's harbour, Nfld. A rocky, windswept promontory of Precambrian formation, with a thin, sporadic cover of till and bog, it was first named by the Portuguese (spera, "hope"). It has been a prime landfall for transatlantic navigators, and since 1836 has been the site of an important lighthouse, continuously in use until 1955, when a modern structure was built. During WWII gun emplacements, now largely demolished, were built on the cape. In 1962 Cape Spear was declared a National Historic Park, and the original lighthouse has been restored to its 1840 condition.