Newfoundland and Labrador is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Gros Morne National Park and L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site – as well as six other National Historic Sites, and twelve Provincial Historic Sites.

There is so much to experience at any one of our historic sites. Witness the sublime majesty of nature in the form of whales, puffins, and icebergs as you gaze out from the beautifully restored Point Amour Lighthouse. Feel the power of the North Atlantic unleashing its fury with every wave sent crashing against the rocks. Visit the Boyd’s Cove Beothuk Interpretation Centre where you’ll learn about life in a thriving Beothuk village more than 300 years ago. You can then travel the 1.5 km of groomed walking trail to the living site and see the housepit remains.

What was life like as a Basque whaler? In Red Bay, you’ll find out. We’ll show you remains of the massive whales that sustained the whaling industry started by the Basque here in the mid 1500s which lasted for about 50 years.

In Fleur de Lys, investigate the 1600 year old soapstone pot quarry. See where bricks of soapstone were chiseled by the Dorset Palaeoeskimo and made into cooking pots and lamps which were used to provide light and utensils for their daily necessities. In Port au Choix, walk on the alkaline soil of the coast that preserved two of the most significant archaeological sites in eastern North America, a large Dorset Palaeoeskimo village and a very well preserved Maritime Archaic Indian burial ground.

Explore the small coastal battery at the edge of Quidi Vidi - a tiny fishing village clinging to the rocks of Newfoundland’s windswept shore - and learn about the historic military presence that surrounded the St. John’s area during the time period of the battery, the early 1800s. Discover how the once bustling 18th century mercantile centre known as Trinity has re-invented itself as today’s pre-eminent period piece. Feel the grass under your feet as you leisurely walk around the green, grassy reconstructed sod buildings near where Norse lived in L’Anse aux Meadows. Visit the abandoned Moravian communities built in faith by missionaries in Hopedale and Hebron in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Be captivated, amazed, and enchanted as you tour our National and Provincial historic sites. Let your keen sense of exploration and your relentless thirst for knowledge guide you as you tour through our history, here in Newfoundland and Labrador.