Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises Municipal Heritage Site

Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises is designated because of its aesthetic and cultural values.

Samuel Abbott House house has aesthetic value as it is a representative example of the type of house built by fishermen in the region in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Such homes employed simple construction techniques, utilized symmetrical design elements and presented a plain, neat facade.

The net store and fish flake add to the aesthetic value of the property as they are good examples of intact fishing structures in the region. There are few such structures in the area, or the province in general, left in their original shape and good condition. Fish flakes in particular disappeared from the built landscape of rural Newfoundland with the decline of the salt fishery in the mid 1900s. Buildings and structures used in the inshore fishery were designed for practical use and had to endure the rigors of harsh environmental conditions. Hence, typical fisheries buildings and structures typically exhibit the use of rough materials, simple design elements and utilitarian construction techniques.

Samuel Abbott House and Fishing Premises site has cultural value as it evokes a certain sense of time and place. It stands as a visual reminder of a way of life tied to the sea and its resources. Its location on the waterfront speaks to the importance of the ocean’s resources in the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Several generations of Abbotts fished from the Newman’s Point property, living within close proximity to the source of their livelihood, a coastal settlement pattern repeated across the province.