About Our Town

The Town of Victoria is a rural community on the Northeast Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland Labrador. Dotted around Victoria and surrounding areas are small fishing communities that were established due to the proximity of each community to the fishing grounds. Locally, Victoria goes by many nicknames, including “The Village” and “The Savage Hollar”, although the use of these names has decreased in recent years.

The community of Victoria is believed to have originally begun as a “winterhouse” for people from Freshwater and Carbonear. People eventually built permanent dwellings around Beaver Pond, along the road between Carbonear and Heart’s Content.

In the nineteenth century the settlement was named Victoria Village, in honour of Queen Victoria.

Although Victoria is an inland community, it is in walking distance of Carbonear, Freshwater and Salmon Cove. Most of the earliest settlers were fishing families (most of the men engaged in the Labrador Fishery). A small amount of farming and livestock raising was also conducted where the produce was sold in Carbonear.

There was a camp built at Victoria to house prisoners of war during World War II. The Americans felt this was a security risk for their bases in Newfoundland, so this structure was never used and it was taken down in 1943.