View source for Snook's Harbour

[[Category:Communities of Random Island]]
<!-- Infobox begins -->
{{Infobox settlement
| name                   = Snook's Harbour
| official_name          = Snook's Harbour
| other_name             =
| native_name            = <!-- for cities whose native name is not in English -->
| settlement_type        = Town
| motto                  = 
| nickname               = 
| image_skyline          = Snooks_Harbour_B&W.jpeg
| image_caption          = Snook's Harbour
| image_flag             =
| image_seal             = 
| image_shield           =
| image_map              = {{#display_map:{{#coordinates:48.1605936, -53.8776967|format=dms}}~Snook's Harbour|width=285|height=150|service=google|title=Snook's Harbour|zoom=12|controls=zoom}} <!-- type=satellite -->
| map_caption            = Location of Snook's Harbour On Random Island
| pushpin_map            = Newfoundland <!-- Newfoundland -->
| pushpin_label_position = left<!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
| pushpin_map_caption    = Location of Snook's Harbour in [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]
| pushpin_mapsize        =
| subdivision_type       = [[w:Countries of the world|Country]]
| subdivision_name       = {{CAN}}
| subdivision_type1      = [[w:Provinces and territories of Canada|Province]]
| subdivision_name1      = {{NL}}
| subdivision_type3      = <!-- [[Census divisions of Newfoundland and Labrador|Census division]] -->
| subdivision_name3      =
| established_title      = <!-- Settled -->
| established_date       = 1870s
| established_title2     = 
| established_date2      = 
| government_type        = 
| government_footnotes   =
| leader_title           = 
| leader_name            = 
| unit_pref              = <!--Enter: Imperial, if Imperial (metric) is desired-->
| area_footnotes         = <ref>All of Random West</ref>
| area_total_km2         = 75.59
| population_as_of       = 2016
| population_note        = Includes all of Random West.
| population_footnotes   = <ref>All of Random West</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=DPL&Code1=100242&Geo2=PR&Code2=10&SearchText=Random%20Island%20West&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=100242&TABID=1&type=0 | title = Census Profile | publisher = Statistics Canada  | access-date = 7 September 2021}}</ref>
| population_total       = 535
| population_density_km2 = 7.1
| timezone               = [[w:Newfoundland Time|Newfoundland Time]]
| utc_offset             = -3:30
| timezone_DST           = [[w:Newfoundland Time|Newfoundland Daylight]]
| utc_offset_DST         = -2:30
| coordinates            = 
| elevation_footnotes    = <!--for references: use<ref> </ref>  tags-->
| elevation_m            = 7
| postal_code_type       = Postal code span
| postal_code            = [[w:List of A Postal Codes of Canada|AOC]]
| area_code              = [[w:Area code 709|709]]
| blank_name             = Highways
| blank_info             = {{jct|province=NL|NL|231}}
| website                =
| footnotes              =
| module                 = {{Historical populations
|1884|65<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1891|88<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1901|49<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1911|51<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1921|44<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1935|51<ref name="census1935"/>
|1945|70<ref name="census1945"/>
|1951|62<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1961|61<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1971|78<ref name="martin_census"/>
|1981|81<ref name="martin_census"/>
|[[w:Canada 2001 Census|2001]]|562
|[[w:Canada 2006 Census|2006]]|557
|[[w:Canada 2011 Census|2011]]|530
|[[w:Canada 2011 Census|2016]]|535
| footnote =<ref name="census2011"/><ref name="census2016"/>
| child = yes
| width=23em
}}
{{Infobox church
| image = Snook's_Harbour_Untied_Church.jpeg
| name   = Snook's Harbour United Church
| image_size = 250
| founded date = c.1927
| previous denomination = Methodist
| denomination = United Church
| closed date = c.1989
}}
{{Infobox school
| name   = Snook's Harbour School
| image = snooks_harbour_school.jpeg
| image_size = 250
| established = c.1930
| closed = c.1967
| footnotes = Building used as a community center for many years after closure
| grades = K - 8
| type = One Room
}}
}}
{{short description|Community of Random Island}}

<!-- Infobox ends -->
'''Snook's Harbour''' is a community on the north side of [[Random Island]], fronting on [[Smith Sound]]. 
Its name is thought to be derived from the name of winter woods workers and the fairly large harbour. While shallow, the harbour is one of the few sheltered locations on the Smith Sound side of Random Island. 

The community itself is really a consolidation of three communities, Snook's Harbour itself, but also the outlying [[Sooley's Brook]] and [[Wake's Brook]].

==History==
It is difficult to establish when exactly Snook's Harbour was first inhabited.  There were at least two nearby fairly large settlements, as noted above, in addition to the harbour itself.  When digging into records for the area, you sometimes see them as separate entities, but at others combined into one.

People lived in the general area, all the way to Grindstone Head, but it is reasonable to assume that based on data we do have, that the original settlers in these three main areas were the [[Baker|Bakers]] in the 1870s.

Shortly thereafter, we see names such as [[Belbin]], [[Cooper]], [[Hefford]], [[Jacobs]], [[Loder]] and [[Ryan]] entering the records.

From Wilfred Martin's books, we see that two brothers named James and John Baker lived at Sooley's Brook in the early 1870s. While it can't be identified with certainty their origin, based on records of names and dates, it appears likely they had their origins in Heart's Ease and/or Rider's Harbour.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Martin
 |first=Wilfred B.W.
 |author-link=
 |year=1990
 |title=Random Island Pioneers
 |url=https://www.amazon.ca/Random-Island-Pioneers/dp/0920021727
 |location=
 |publisher=Creative Publishers
 |pages=194
 |isbn=0-920021-72-7
 |chapter=Pioneers of Present Communities
}}</ref>

Later we see that William Cooper, and brother Edward Cooper of [[Ireland's Eye]] settled in the harbour in the 1880s, while Elias Hefford, of New Perlican, came around the same time to sail with the Loders.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Martin
 |first=Wilfred B.W.
 |author-link=
 |year=1990
 |title=Random Island Pioneers
 |url=https://www.amazon.ca/Random-Island-Pioneers/dp/0920021727
 |location=
 |publisher=Creative Publishers
 |pages=195
 |isbn=0-920021-72-7
 |chapter=Pioneers of Present Communities
}}</ref>

The Loders themselves appear to be the original family to actually settle in the harbour itself. John Loder, and wife Jane Tilley Smith of Elliott's Cove being the first. John was the son of Silas, a planter from Ireland's Eye.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Martin
 |first=Wilfred B.W.
 |author-link=
 |year=1990
 |title=Random Island Pioneers
 |url=https://www.amazon.ca/Random-Island-Pioneers/dp/0920021727
 |location=
 |publisher=Creative Publishers
 |pages=196
 |isbn=0-920021-72-7
 |chapter=Pioneers of Present Communities
}}</ref>

==Church & School==
===Snook's Harbour Congregational School-Chapel===
There was a Congregational school-chapel at Snook's Harbour in the 1880s. It was an outpost of a Congregational church at [[Middle Lance Cove]].<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Martin
 |first=Wilfred B.W.
 |author-link=
 |year=1991
 |title=Random Island and Beyond
 |url=https://www.abebooks.com/9781895387049/Random-Island-beyond-Martin-Wilfred-1895387043/plp
 |location=
 |publisher=Creative Publishers
 |pages=22
 |isbn=1-895387-04-3
 |chapter=Random Island Churches
}}</ref>

Other sources note the dates as starting in 1878 and lasted into the early 1890s. The Loder family were lay readers at this church, and very involved with it.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=https://www.nlhistory.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/1083-1084-Aspects.pdf
 |title=NURSE MARTHA ISABEL LODER (1884-1963) AND THE GREAT WAR: From Snook’s Harbour to the Somme
 |last=Duley
 |first=Margot I
 |date=2015
 |website=Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society
 |publisher=The Newfoundland Historical Society
 |access-date=2021-09-19}}
</ref>
{{Blockquote
| text=In addition to the church, Mona’s father and mother (sic John and Jane) helped to oversee the Congregational School in Snook’s Harbour, writing the denomination’s Training School in St John’s to secure a well-qualified teacher. This school eventually closed and a Methodist one opened in 1895.
|author=Margot I Duley
|source=''Aspects'' Volume 108 Number 3 2015/16 - Page 48
}}
===Snook's Harbour Church of England School-Chapel===
A Church of England school-chapel was constructed in the Sooley's Brook/Wake's Brook area in the 1880s. Most people moved from these locations in the 1920s to Snook's Harbour proper or further afield. After leaving, the church was taken down with plans to rebuild it in Snook's Harbour, but that never happened.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Martin
 |first=Wilfred B.W.
 |author-link=
 |year=1991
 |title=Random Island and Beyond
 |url=https://www.abebooks.com/9781895387049/Random-Island-beyond-Martin-Wilfred-1895387043/plp
 |location=
 |publisher=Creative Publishers
 |pages=49
 |isbn=1-895387-04-3
 |chapter=Random Island Churches
}}</ref>

===Snook's Harbour Methodist/United Church===
A school-chapel served the Methodist population of Snook's Harbour during the early 1900s, at which time there were plans for a combined church to be built with [[Apsey Brook]].  For whatever reason, those plans fell through, and in 1927, it was reported that the town was building a new church.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Martin
 |first=Wilfred B.W.
 |author-link=
 |year=1991
 |title=Random Island and Beyond
 |url=https://www.abebooks.com/9781895387049/Random-Island-beyond-Martin-Wilfred-1895387043/plp
 |location=
 |publisher=Creative Publishers
 |pages=38
 |isbn=1-895387-04-3
 |chapter=Churches of Random Island
}}</ref>

===Snook's Harbour School===
The Methodists opened a school-chapel in Snook's Harbour in 1895, and continued to operate a school till the 1960s.  The establishment of this later school is unknown, but expected based on the date of church construction that it was some time after 1927.

==Businesses==
*[[Smith Brickyard]]
*[[Hefford's Store]]
*[[Baxter Baker's Store]]
*[[Alan Baker's Store]] Note: Unsure of correct spelling, or proper name. May have been his wife's name.
*[[Vicky Smith's Store]]
* The author thinks there may have been others that slipped his memory at present (September 13, 2021)

==Demographics==
Snook's Harbour is in Random Island West, Division No. 7, Newfoundland and Labrador. 


According to the 2016 Census<ref name="census2016"/>for all of Random Island West
*Population: 535
*Change% (2011–2016): 0.9
*Dwellings: 239
*Area (km².): 75.59
*Density (persons per km².): 7.1

==Features, Landmarks, Locations==
* [[Southwest Brook]]
* [[Snook's Harbour Pond]]
* [[Bailey's Mish]]
* [[Baker's Point]]
* [[Cable Trail]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="census2016">{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=DPL&Code1=100242&Geo2=PR&Code2=10&SearchText=Random%20Island%20West&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=100242&TABID=1&type=0 |title=2016 Canada Census for Random Island West|publisher=Statistics Canada}}</ref>,
<ref name="census2011">{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=DPL&Code1=100242&Geo2=PR&Code2=10&SearchText=Random%20Island%20West&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=100242&TABID=1&type=0 |title=2016 Canada Census for Random Island West|publisher=Statistics Canada}}</ref>
<ref name="census1945">{{cite web |url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1945/45-snooks-hbr-tb-n.shtml |title=1945 Newfoundland Census for Snook's Harbour}}</ref>
<ref name="census1935">{{cite web |url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1935/35-snooks-hbr-tb.shtml |title=1935 Newfoundland Census for Snook's Harbour}}</ref>

<ref name="martin_census">{{cite book
 |last=Martin
 |first=Wilfred B.W.
 |author-link=
 |year=1990
 |title=Random Island Pioneers
 |url=https://www.amazon.ca/Random-Island-Pioneers/dp/0920021727
 |location=
 |publisher=Creative Publishers
 |pages=36
 |isbn=0-920021-72-7
 |chapter=Settlements and Early Industries
}}</ref>
}}
==External links==
*[https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/cns_enl/id/3799/rec/1 Snook's Harbour - Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol. 5, p. 226.]
*[https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/cns_decks/id/6564/rec/14 Random Island - Decks Awash, vol. 12, no. 02 (March-April 1983)]