Heart's Content

Heart's Content, NL, incorporated as a town in 1967, population 418 (2011c), 418 (2006c). The Town of Heart's Content is a fishing community on a protected, urn-shaped harbour in eastern Trinity Bay. Although the origin of the name is just speculation, a variation of it (Hartes content) was recorded by John GUY in 1612. Originally a summer fishing station, by the late 1600s it was a year-round settlement populated mainly by English West Country fishermen who also later developed a shipbuilding industry. Besides being one of Newfoundland's oldest enduring fishing settlements, it is prominent in the history of international communications. In July 1866 the Great Eastern, the largest steamship then afloat, made the first successful landing of a transatlantic submarine telegraph cable at Heart's Content. Subsequently, the Anglo-American Telegraph Co established a cable station, which brought an influx of company employees and services. The station closed in 1965, mainly because of new technological developments, but the station building was designated a provincial Historic Site in 1974 and has been restored.

See also Hearts Content Cable Station.