Description
Hefford Plantation is the site of a 17th century plantation located in the community of New Perlican, NL. Archaeological excavations at the site began in 2001. Specifically, it is a hill formed by a bedrock outcrop located about 20m east of the beach where it slopes down to the south and east, and then it levels out into grass covered gardens. This site is located just across the bridge on the eastern side of New Perlican Harbour, between Pinsent’s Lane, Route 80 and Peddle’s Lane.
Statement of Significance
Formal Recognition Type
Municipal Heritage Building, Structure or Land
Heritage Value
Hefford Plantation has been designated a municipal heritage site by the Town of New Perlican due to its historic and scientific value.
Hefford Plantation has historic value for its age and association with early European settlement on the island of Newfoundland. In the fall and winter of 1619/1620 Thomas Rowley, a planter at Cupers Cove (now called Cupids) was making plans to establish a plantation at New Perlican. Rowley had been living at Cupids since at least 1612 and had accompanied John Guy on his voyage into Trinity Bay in the fall of that year. It is unclear if Rowley actually did move to New Perlican, but his records prove the existence of the community from a very early time. The first known settlers were the Hefford family and the plantation was settled by William Hefford, his wife, their one child and eleven servants. Also at this plantation were two single planters: Edward House and John Welkenell. The Heffords are recorded to have owned one dwelling house, nine store rooms, lodging houses, two boats and one stage, and they kept a garden. The remains of these buildings were the subject of the archaeological dig. Today, the Hefford name continues in New Perlican, some four hundred years after William Hefford established his plantation.
Hefford Plantation has scientific value for the information the excavation has yielded about early settlement in Newfoundland. Over 12 000 artifacts have been recovered from the site and most of these date to the last quarter of the 17th century, interspersed with artifacts dating to the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Among the artifacts recovered are pottery fragments, tobacco clay pipes and coins: a William III ha’penny(1695), a Spanish/American Silver One Real (1653) and an Elizabethan Thruppence (1573). The ceramics date from the early 17th and 18th centuries and include fragments of German manufactured Westerwald stoneware, Bellarmine, tin glazed coarse earthenware, French manufactured Saintonge, Iberian storage jars and a number of English wares, including Verwood, South Somerset and North Devonware. The high proportion of Verwood pottery is significant because we know this part of Trinity Bay traded with and was settled by people from Dorset. The clay tobacco pipes helped to date the site and it seems highly likely that European utilization of this site began sometime in the first half of the 17th century and maybe earlier than 1620. The richness of the deposits suggests that it was a plantation, rather than a migratory fishing station. The site helps us understand how life was during Newfoundland’s formative years as a fledgling colony.
Source: Town of New Perlican Regular Council Meeting Motion #2015-057 June 23, 2015.
Character Defining Elements
All those elements that respect the archaeological site and artifacts, including:
-in-situ archaeological remnants of the early 17th century plantation life in their location, form and materials as well as artifacts removed from any and all of these sites in an intact and documented state, and;
-the evident above ground features.
Location and History
Community
New Perlican
Municipality
Town of New Perlican
Civic Address
New Perlican
Construction (circa)
1619 - 1620
Location
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