(pop. 1981, 275). Grates Cove, the most northerly community on the Avalon Peninsula, is located on the arm of the Peninsula which separates Trinity and Conception Bays. Situated near Grates Point, which is the most northerly point of land on the Avalon Peninsula, the community is located within the confines of Trinity Bay.
Called ``the Grates'' by John Guy as early as 1612, the origin of the name Grates Cove is unknown. M.F. Howley (1901) suggested that the name was based on the French fishing term de'grat. According to E.R. Seary (1971) en de'grat is said to describe ``a boat leaving the harbour where the parent ship is anchored and going to find better fishing elsewhere.''
Nestled in a cove with a deep channel, but open to the Atlantic, Grates Cove was first settled in part in 1790 by four families from Lower Island Cove and one family from Old Perlican. It is believed that Grates Cove was visited by seasonal fishermen before this and some have expressed the belief that it was visited as early as 1497 by John Cabot. This speculation has been fueled by the presence of a large rock high above the water on a cliff face located in Grates Cove. As Harold Horwood states, ``some of those who formerly examined it, including a curator of the Newfoundland Museum, professed to be able to read the names 'IO CABOTO,' 'SANCIUS' and 'SAINMALIA' quite plainly'' (H. Horwood: 1969, p. 161).
The community of Grates Cove began to thrive after the first families settled there and by 1836 the Census recorded a population of 439. By 1857 the population had risen to 577. The greatest number of residents listed for Grates Cove was reached in 1921 when there were 772 people living in the community. After 1921 the population began to drop and by 1945 there were 480 residents, 372 by 1966, and 249 by 1976.
The people of Grates Cove have always had strong religious affiliations. The first church was built in Grates Cove by the Methodists in 1809 on land donated to the church by Thomas Cooper, and William Ellis preached the first sermon. The Church of England church was built in 1861 and a third church in the community, the Roman Catholic church, was built between 1869 and 1874. A new Roman Catholic church was built in 1910 and consecrated in 1911, a new United Church building was constructed in 1929 and opened in 1931, and a new Anglican church was consecrated by Bishop White in 1937. In 1982 there were three churches in Grates Cove: Grace United Church, St. Lukes Anglican Church and a Roman Catholic church. Each church had a clergyman on circuit visiting the community, as the United Church minister lived in Old Perlican, the Anglican minister in Carbonear and the Roman Catholic priest in Bay de Verde.
In 1792 John Hoskins, Jr. went to Grates Cove as a teacher and Methodist pastor. In 1801 he became the class leader and the first formal school was begun in that year. By 1846 there were two schools in Grates Cove: one Roman Catholic and one Methodist (JHA: 1846, App. p. 141). By 1901 there were three schools in the community: a two-room Methodist school, a one-room Church of England school and a one-room Roman Catholic school. All taught Grades One to Eleven. In the late 1950s an amalgamation took place between the United Church and Anglican schools. The arrangement was as follows: Grades I to IV would be taught in one room of the United Church school. Grades V to VIII would be taught in the one-room Anglican school and Grades IX to Xl would be taught in the second room of the United Church school. This amalgamation was discontinued in September 1961 when the denominatons failed to agree on the building of a larger school. As a result the United Church opened a new two-room school in 1964 and the Anglican Church built a new school in the same year. In 1967 the Grates Cove school system was completely reorganized. The Roman Catholic St. Joseph's Central High School was opened in Bay de Verde teaching Grades VII to XI. In addition to accommodating all Roman Catholic students in the area it also accommodated Protestants from Grates Cove and surrounding communities. The Anglican and Roman Catholic schools in Grates Cove were closed and the remaining pupils from Kindergarten to Grade VI were taught in the two-room United Church school. That school was closed in 1973 when Tricon Elementary, in Bay de Verde, was opened. Students from Kindergarten to Grade VI of all denominations attended from Grates Cove, Old Perlican, Caplin Cove and Bay de Verde. In 1982 the students from Grates Cove continued to be bussed to St. Joseph's Central High and Tricon Elementary schools.
The mainstay of the economy of Grates Cove has always been the cod fishery. As early as 1857 the Census listed forty-seven fishing rooms, eighty-six nets, seines and traps, eighty-six boats and 360 426 kg (7,095 qtls) of fish caught, by fishermen from Grates Cove. From 1901 to 1935 there were a number of cod-oil factories reported in the community; the highest number of factory buildings was twelve, reported for 1921. In 1982 the majority of the people of Grates Cove continued to fish. Many of the inshore fisherman, using trap skiffs, sold their fish at the wharf in Grates Cove or to the agent based at Grates Cove for Ocean Harvesters Ltd. of Harbour Grace. Others, using longliners, sold their catch at the wharves in Old Perlican. As well as cod, the fishermen caught salmon, lobster, herring, mackerel and capelin, many of these species being for personal use. In 1982 some of the residents of Grates Cove were employed at the fish plants at Bay de Verde and Old Perlican.
Grates Cove residents have also carried on subsistence farming. In the Census of 1836 the community registered thirty-eight oxen and neat cattle and two goats and horses as well as 6 ha (14 acres) of cultivated land and the production of 2,495 bushels of potatoes. By 1911 there were 67 ha (165 acres) of cultivated land in Grates Cove which produced potatoes, turnips and other vegetables. The residents also kept milk cows, sheep, swine, goats, horses and poultry. In 1982 some small-scale farming continued in Grates Cove as well as berry-picking for private and commercial use.
Before 1900 Grates Cove was accessible only by boat. In 1913 the railway was extended to Grates Cove via Carbonear, Old Perlican and Bay de Verde, but the service was discontinued in the 1930s. In the late 1920s the first road to Grates Cove was finished. It was rebuilt in 1964, widened and upgraded in the summer of 1968 and during the 1970s was paved. Postal services came to the community in the early 1900s. In the late 1950s a wharf was built at the community. The irregular-shaped wharf, extended from the west side of the cove, was ``... protected at its outer end by a three foot [0.9 m] high concrete spray wall, and on the north side by a two foot [0.6 m] high wall. There is a berthing area 80 ft [24 m] long on the southside, and 40 ft [12 m] long on the north side. The wharf is equipped with a slipway hoist, and two 10-horsepower motor winches. There is a small boat slipway in the cove'' (Sailing Directions Newfoundland: 1980, p. 209). In the early 1960s the government also constructed a breakwater at Cooper's Point, near the community.
In the early 1900s several organizations were begun in Grates Cove. On January 24,1891 the Society of United *Fishermen qv was formed. Its highest membership (109) was reached in the 1920s but in the 1970s it still maintained an active membership of approximately forty-two. On April 23, 1911 William F. Coaker qv organized the *Fishermen's Protective Union qv in Grates Cove, William J. Meadus being the first community chairman. The Loyal Orange Association of Newfoundland organized in Grates Cove in 1929 and in the 1970s still had a membership of approximately fifteen. A cooperative society was formed in Grates Cove in 1935 with the help of a Government loan. It disbanded in the mid-1940s.
In 1982 the community of Grates Cove was unincorporated but used a number of committees to deal with community problems. For medical services the residents went to the cottage hospital at Old Perlican. Recreation facilities at Bay de Verde, Old Perlican and Carbonear were used by the people of Grates Cove.
