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- The Move
A video on the resettlement of the Rumboldt family
in 1968.
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Home  Virtual Exhibits Resettlement Merasheen
Merasheen
Merasheen, located on the southwestern tip of Merasheen Island in Placentia Bay, was one of the larger and more prosperous
communities resettled. Settled by English, Irish and Scottish in the late 18th century, the community eventually became
predominantly Roman Catholic with families of Irish descent. In an ideal location to prosecute the inshore cod fishery along
with the herring and lobster fisheries in the ice-free harbour during winter and spring, it appeared that Merasheen would not
succumb to the same fate as other small resettled communities. After the Great Depression, the community experienced a
resurgence: a fisheries co-operative established in 1939 to operate a small herring factory and a liver factory, a new fish
merchant set up shop in the 1950s. By 1957 the Newfoundland government had constructed a community salting and drying plant
to replace individual stages and flakes. By 1963 Merasheen had formed a community council and acquired an electric power plant,
the school was expanded, and Fishery Products began processing herring there. Nevertheless the population fell from about 350
in 1953 to 290 in 1961, and, as was the case for all of the Placentia Bay island communities, residents petitioned to be
resettled under the provincial government's centralization program. By 1965, people had begun to move to Freshwater, Jerseyside,
Placentia, Point Verde and St. John's. In 1980 Merasheen was the first of the resettled Placentia Bay communities to organize
a reunion; they have since held reunions on several occasions. The images capture life in Merasheen prior to resettlement and
follow it through the resettlement and post-resettlement periods.
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