Burlington

Burlington once named Northwest Arm, is located at the north side of the mouth of Green Bay. It was an incorporated fishing and lumbering community that was permanently settled in the mid 1800's. Burlington was renamed in 1914 or 1915.

The community is a picturesque place, an almost round arm of the sea. To the south are the White Hills, rising above the stretches of dark green spruce covered lower slopes. The little coves and the quiet waters of Waddies Pond are an artist's delight in summer and autumn.

Local History

In August 1933, the community was completely destroyed by fire. The fire destroyed homes, livestock, sawmills and valuable timber. Since this was in the depression years, and a lot of long hours and hard work was gone up in smoke in just a few hours. A lot of people did not rebuild, instead they left to make a new start elsewhere.

Of the original surnames Marsh, Hudson, Pike, Higgins, House, Green, Jennings, etc. most are no longer to be found in Burlington. New names have been added in the recent years, Foster, Kelly, Dawe, Elliott, Saunders, Burton, and others.

In the old Methodist records at Nipper's Harbour , there is a record of marriage between Azarilla Mills and Mary Ann White, dated October 31, 1883. Mary F. White is listed as a witness to a marriage. Mr. Joseph Rideout of Rouge's Harbour married a White girl from Indian Burying Place another nearby settlement. Mr. Bond Roberts, a resident of Burlington thinks that these people were all members of the first family of Burlington.

Mr. Abraham Mills, who pioneered schooner building, came to North West Arm just after the Green family. He had four brothers, George, Ambrose, Joseph and Nathaniel. In December, 1882, Abraham and Joseph were drowned along with four more men. The schooner building industry was then taken over by Abraham's son Eliezer, and in turn by Eliezer's son Abraham who died in 1971.

The people were mainly Methodists. One family was Roman Catholic and one or two were Church of England. At one time, on census return, eight people were listed as Salvation Army. As time went on everyone was considered to be United because that was the only church in the community at the time, until people started to change their religion. In 1960, there was a new church established which was the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland.

The first school building was erected in 1877 on the north side. By 1884 another school building was erected, this time on the south side, and the teacher was to teach there for a period. After this the practice was to have a teacher teach for five months on the north side and five months on the south side.

There was no large industry back in the 1800's. The early settlers fished for cod, cleared land to grow their own potatoes, cabbage and small fruits. By keeping animals provided meat for the winter and milk and butter in season. They built their own boats and those who did not go to Labrador to fish were employed at the inshore fishery. When the mines opened at Bett's Cove and at Tilt Cove some of the men went there to work.

Logging pitprops for the United Kingdom started in 1915 by John Jennings (contractor). This industry was closed down in 1918 when the sale of pitprops ended. Lumbering camps opened in 1920 and closed down during the depression years of the 1930's. Later camps opened for the cutting of pulpwood and continues for about ten years. In 1969 pulpwood was again the main industry and was shipped out by truck from Burlington.

Tourism & Recreation

There is a recreation committee in the community but there is no recreational director employed. It is all volunteer work. There is a skating rink in the community. Hockey is the main activity. The community hall is used for holding both public and business meetings. The Salmon Trail is located in Burlington. A beautiful licenced salmon river runs through the community. This is an angler's delight.