St John’s Tourist Attractions (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) Part-3
Cabot Tower
Signal Hill Rd.
Tel: (709) 772 5367.
The building of Cabot Tower at the top of Signal Hill began in 1897 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Cabot’s arrival.
On summer weekends, soldiers in period dress perform 19th-century marching drills, with firing muskets and cannon. It was here that another Italian, Guglielmo Marconi, received the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901.
Quidi Vidi Village
Quidi Vidi Village Rd.
Tel: (709) 7292977.
On the other side of Signal Hill, the weathered buildings of ancient Quidi Vidi Village nestle around a small harbor. Visitors can browse through the eclectic collection of antiques for sale at Mallard Cottage, dating back to the 1750s. Above the village, the Quidi Vidi Battery was a fortified gun emplacement built in 1762 to defend the entrance of Quidi Vidi Harbour. Today, the site is a reconstruction of the small barracks that soldiers lived in.
Guides in period military dress are on hand to relate tales of their lives and hardships.
Pippy Park
Nagles Place.
Tel: (709) 737 3655.
Visitors are sometimes startled to see moose roaming free in St. John’s, but it happens often in this 1,400-ha (3,460-acre) nature park, 4 km (2 miles) from the town center. The park is also home to the ponds and gardens of the local Botanical Gardens. The only Fluvarium in North America is based here too, featuring nine underwater windows that look onto the natural activity of a rushing freshwater trout stream.
Cape Spear Lighthouse Historic Site of Canada
Tel: (709) 772 5367.
Ten km (6 miles) southeast of town, Cape Spear marks the most easterly point in North America. Set atop seaside cliffs, as the ocean pounds rocks below, the majestic Cape Spear Lighthouse has long been a symbol of Newfoundland’s independence. Two lighthouses sit here. The original, built in 1836 and the oldest in Newfoundland, stands beside a graceful, modern, automated lighthouse, added in 1955.
ST. JOHN’S CITY CENTER
Cabot Tower
East End
Murray Premises
Signal Hill
The Battery
The Waterfront
Canada Cities