Welcome to Brigus & Cupids

In Brigus, you can take a leisurely hike around charming streets sloping up into green cliffs, before stopping for a slice of homemade blueberry cheesecake. The town is a picture postcard, reminiscent of the quaintness often found in European villages. Even the name “Brigus” is derived from “Brickhouse,” an old English town, pronounced with a flavour only found in this part of North America.

Around here, history thrives. The town’s well–kept old–style architecture, rustic stone walls, lush green gardens, and winding narrow lanes are reflective of its English, Irish, and Welsh heritage. Visit Hawthorne Cottage National Historic Site, the former home of Captain Bob Bartlett, hailed as the greatest ice navigator of the 20th century. 

There’s more to Brigus than scenery and history. Every summer, the community bustles with activity during the annual Blueberry Festival. Over 12,000 visitors from around the world come to enjoy three days of music, traditional food, dancing, fireworks, and of course blueberries. Sing and dance. Shop and relax. Fill your belly with the sweetest wildberry fixin’s in the world.

People have been finding and falling in love with Cupids for centuries. It was the first English colony in Canada (and the second in North America). John Guy and his backers brought a boatload of settlers to the area in 1610, and established a plantation in what was then known as Cuper’s Cove. The colonists cleared the land, fished, farmed, explored for minerals, and tried to establish fur trading with the Beothuk, the now extinct Indigenous people.

Around the year 1700, settlers abandoned the original plantation site, and the secret of its exact location was lost for more than 250 years. Today, visit the Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site and watch archaeologists uncover its secrets piece by piece.

Some of the province’s best stage actors perform both traditional and tongue–in–cheek interpretations of Shakespeare at a beautiful performance space.