Cow Head
It is believed Cow Head was inhabited by the Dorset Eskimo 1000 to 3000 years
ago.
The town was named Cap Pointu by Jacques Cartier because "This Cape is all
eaten away at the top, and the bottom towards the sea is pointed...." This was
changed to Cow Head later because of the formation of one of the boulders is
similar to the shape of a cow's head.
The first English settler is believed to
be Charles Paine, who arrived in 1808 to fish there. The first census was taken
in 1857, and it showed 55 people were living there. Cow Head was also involved
in the fur-trapping industry at this time.There was a murder here in 1809. John
Pelley, a trapper, supposedly murdered Richard Cross and Joseph Rendell when
they encroached on his trapping area.
The lobster fishing became important
industry, and by 1921 there were 20 lobster factories. In the 1920s, logging
became the second largest industry in Cow Head. Because of this new industry the
population of the community doubled from 231 in 1921 to 448 in 1956. In the
1970s,
Cow Head became an enclave community within the Gros Morne National Park.
It was incorporated as a community in 1964