By Patrick Newhook/February 10, 2022
Filled with history and beautiful scenery, the town of Cape Broyle drapes like a rugged stole on the rocky and tree covered shoulders of an eye-captivating harbour on what early colonists once dubbed the English Shore.
With a population of 489, the town’s residents are proud of their history.
One of them, Andrea O’Brien, also happens to be the Municipal Outreach Officer for Heritage NL, so knowing her history is important to her.
Like many communities on the Southern Shore, Cape Broyle has some unique names. Take Horse Chops Road. Located near the entrance of town, Horse Chops Road is a long a winding track, with Horse Chops Pond lying on side of it and smaller Pidgeon House Pond located further in.
O’Brien says the origin of Horse Chops as a name for the pond and the road supposedly comes from a rock found on it.
“The story I heard about Horse Chops Road, at the very end of Horse Chops Road where the power station is, there’s a big rock up there with kind of a split in it and the rock looks like the rear end of a horse, which would be the chops of an animal,” says O’Brien.
Another unique local name is Fairy Pond Road. Located in the center of town, Fairy Pond Road connects the Main Road to Lower Road. O’Brien is aware of two stories as to how it got its name.
“There’s no actual pond in Fairy Pond,” she said. “The pond next to Fairy Pond is actually School House Pond. The story that I heard growing up was that sometimes when there’s a lot of rain, there is a little section in Fairy Pond where the water gathers and then disappear, of course, when the ground dries out. And the name Fairy Pond came from this kind of appearing and disappearing pond, and I guess who would do that kind of thing, the fairies would.”
The other explanation is similar.
“Another story I heard was from someone who lived in Fairy Pond, and she said when she was young, her father told her that the fairies would play down by the beach,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien says some area names have changed over the years, making it hard to know what the original meaning was supposed to be.
“There’s a place called Kisha, and some people pronounce it Kishu...and that’s where people had gardens years ago for growing hay and growing vegetables and I’ve asked Irish speakers that I know and they think it might be related to a kind of really skinny pieces of wood that were used years ago to make fences, to make water fences, but no one knows (for sure),” says O’Brien. “That was named when people arrived here and no one really remembers what the name is. There’s places on our landscape that we really don’t know what they mean anymore, but they really speak to our heritage of Irish people immigrating here in the late 1800s.”
