By Mark Squibb/October 28, 2021
Members of the Bay Bulls heritage committee hope that with a little funding, a town museum and tourist kiosk could be in the town’s future.
There is no member of council yet on the committee, so the Town’s chief administrative officer, Jennifer Aspell, provided a brief update during the October 12 public meeting.
“We’ve identified some priorities which are achievable in the short and long term, and we’ve also met with some potential funding partners to see what types of projects could be funded,” said Aspell. “Right now, the heritage committee seems to be keenly interested in a couple of things. One would be the construction of a tourism kiosk, because we currently don’t have anything in the town for tourists such as an information centre. Also, a long-term plan, because we know that there has been a lot of interest from the general public, would be to construct a museum.”
Aspell said there is a tremendous amount of heritage within the community, and the committee wants to capture and preserve as much of the town’s history as possible.
“So, the heritage committee is going to continue to meet and engage the business community and see what kind of activities the heritage committee could be taking on that might increase economic development within the town,” said Aspell.
She said the committee was not yet an independent body so that committee items would continually come back to council for consideration.
Council would of course ultimately decide which, if any, funding applications to submit.
As to Bay Bulls itself, the town name first appeared on a map drawn by Thomas Hood in 1592. During it’s 400-year history, the town, being a harbour community, was raided and attacked a number of times, but still stands firm to this day. The Bay Bulls Harbour is also a Provincial Historic Site, as it is the home of one of Canada’s earliest shipwrecks. The HMS Sapphire sunk in 1696 following an attack by a French ship during King William’s War (1689-1697). The wreck lies at the bottom of Bay Bulls Harbour.
