In the 1500s, the waters of Red Bay were thick with thousands of French and Spanish whalers hunting right whales and bowhead whales for export to Europe. On Saddle Island, an island in the middle of the bay, the remnants of shanties, ship works, and cooperages sit where Basque hands first built them. Today you can wander around the former whaling town of Red Bay and explore the history that drapes it.

Take a hike along the beach and skip rocks where Basque whalers celebrated their catch. Step into the interpretation centre and see an eight-metre chalupa, which whalers, young and old, used to set out into the ocean to harpoon their giant catch. To get a full appreciation for the size of these whales, compare the chalupa to the assembled collections of whale bones displayed in the centre. These displays depict a time of prosperity and dangerous adventure, illustrating their way of life long before our time.

If you take a boat or kayak trip to Saddle Island, you will find the remains of a time miraculously preserved. Where once stood the home of the first oil refinery in North America, now piles of red clay roof tiles can be found on the island, 500 years since its closure. Here you can picture perfectly what this place was like; people working day and night to process whale oil for transport; barrels moved from place to place while folk loaded and unloaded small boats at the shore.

This mystical place is world-renowned. The history seeping from the edges of the National Historic Site has been officially recognized by the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site. Red Bay National Historic Site takes the essence of Labrador coastal living and transposes it onto a tapestry of rich culture and history. As you travel to Newfoundland and Labrador, make your way along the winding roads to Red Bay, walk where the whaler’s walked, and step back to a whaler’s time. You can visualize the day the San Juan sank in 1565, only 50 metres away. Or can stand at the whaler’s burial ground where their 140 colleagues and friends were laid to rest with loving hands.

Red Bay National Historic Site is located at the end of The Viking Trail. It can be reached via ferry from St. Barbe, Newfoundland to Blanc Sablon, Quebec and just an 88-kilometre drive.