Last modified: 2021-10-16 by rob raeside
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image by Masao Okazaki, 25 September 2021
See also:
A photo of this flag was posted by Danforth Guy in the FOTW Facebook
group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/flagsoftheworld/posts/4986542234693792/
Masao Okazaki, 25 September 2021
The municipal logo reflects the town's past and present sources of income,
salmon (the town is surrounded by three salmon rivers) and tourism (especially,
golf), respectively.
"One of the earliest accounts of the area comes from
William E. Cormack who trekked across Newfoundland in 1822 with Sylvester Joe
(an aboriginal guide) seeking to enter into peaceful conversations with the
Beothuck. He describes crossing the “Clode Sound River,” and based on the
description, it was Southwest River. The guide explained to Cormack that the
Mi'kmaw used to canoe up the river looking for salmon. In the 1839, a geological
study describes Clode Sound as having no permanent inhabitants, but there were
old winter houses (tilts) that provided shelter for people logging timber. A
line was cut through the forest from Shoal Harbour near Clarenville to Clode
Sound in 1867 as part of a Newfoundland Government initiative to provide
overland mail delivery on the island.
The first significant development
of the community happens in 1892 with the building of the railway and the
installation of a wharf at Clode Sound to accommodate a coastal steamer for
Bonavista Bay to facilitate travellers, carry freight and increase trade. A
railway station and telegraph office is completed, several business operations
such as sawmills are established and a population of 47 men (women and children
were not included in early publications) is listed for Clode Sound in 1894.
The first decade of the 1900’s saw exponential growth. The community was
assigned as the home port for the new coastal steamer S.S. Dundee, mastered by
Captain Darius Blandford. Clode Sound included what is modern day Charlottetown
and Bunyan’s Cove, and people of this part of the bay referred to the community
as Port Blandford after Captain Blandford. As part of an amendment to the Post
Office Act in 1902 due to a number of communities changing their names, Port
Blandford is listed for the first time as its own community. By 1908, it is
documented that there are 2 churches (Episcopal and Methodist), 2 stores, 2
hotels, 2 lumber mills, 1 newspaper office (The Telegrapher published by William
Coaker), a telegraph and express office, and a population of about 300.
The community continued to grow throughout the decades and became a commercial
centre for area. After Newfoundland joined confederation in 1949, there was
significant development in the area that started the change of the traditional
industries. The first national park in the province (Terra Nova National Park)
was established on the border of the community in 1957, which removed some of
the traditional logging areas.
In 1971, the Town of Port Blandford was
officially incorporated and the community council started work on road
developments and installing water and sewer services. It also played a role in
working with Terra Nova National Park in creating the nine-hole Twin Rivers Golf
Course along Northwest River. By the early 1990’s, tourism started to become the
primary industry in the community. With the building of the St. Christopher’s
Hotel (now Terra Nova Golf Resort), the expansion of Twin Rivers as a
championship 18-hole golf course, the addition of the nine-hole Eagle Creek golf
course and development of a variety of accommodations, Port Blandford became a
tourism destination on the east coast of the province."
http://portblandford.com/community-history/
Town website
Ivan Sache, 26 September 2021