St. Lawrence

St. Lawrence is a town of 1,100 people (2021) on the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. Lawrence calls itself the 'Soccer Capital of Canada', and St. Lawrence Centennial Soccer Field has been listed as one of the Historic Places of Canada since 2005.

Understand
The St. Lawrence soccer teams have been a powerhouse of soccer on the Burin Peninsula. The town has nine organized soccer teams. Provincial-level culminated in the St. Lawrence Laurentians being named the "Team of the Decade" for the 1970s and 1990s.

History
St. Lawrence was named by a group of shipwrecked sailors who came to the New Found Land in 1583 with Sir Humphrey Gilbert. During the expedition their vessel, HMS Delight, sank off Sable Island. Sixteen of her crew drifted in a lifeboat for 7 days before coming ashore on the South Coast in Little St. Lawrence.

The area was known to English, French, and Basque fishermen in the 1500s and there were a few French stages at St Lawrence for the early French ship fishermen for the fishing season. Permanent settlement actually began in the early to mid-1700s. Captain James Cook surveyed the St. Lawrence area and vicinity in 1765. St. Lawrence was a hive of activity in 1784 when Newmans opened its store in Little St. Lawrence and business was soon rivalling that of St. John's (the capital city). Newmans closed its Little St. Lawrence store in 1811.

Fishing was the main economic activity of the area for hundreds of years due to its proximity to the Grand Banks. A tsunami devastated the area following the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake; 27 people lost their lives, and many along the coast lost their houses, boats, stages and supplies. This added greatly to the hardship already inflicted by the Great Depression and the collapse of the saltfish trade.

The mining of fluorspar deposits began in 1933. The fluorspar mine in St. Lawrence was a major employer in the community until 1978, when the mine was closed.

On February 18, 1942, more than 200 American sailors died when the USS Truxton ran aground near Chambers Cove and the USS Pollux ran aground at Lawn Point. Tremendous community efforts and personal bravery by the citizens of Lawn and St. Lawrence reduced the high death toll. In 1954 the U.S. Navy built a hospital at St. Lawrence in gratitude for their work.

Get in
St. Lawrence is 345 km by road (about 4 hr 45 min) from St. John's, which has the nearest major airport.

Take the Trans-Canada Highway from St. John's to Goobies (which is a real place), and turn west onto Route 210 toward Marystown. At Marystown, continue south (not west) onto Route 220 to St. Lawrence.

Buy

 * The Museum Gift Shop at the St. Lawrence Miners Museum (see "See" above) sells jewellery made from fluorspar extracted locally from the only Fluorspar deposit in Canada. This beautifully coloured stone is hand-carved and polished in their own workshop and set in distinctive jewellery. This stone comes in 30 shades from green to blue to pink to red.

Drink

 * The Stag Bar in the Oceanview Motel is open nightly.
 * Sweepers Lounge on Corporation Place and is home to numerous dart leagues.