Cottagers in Pope's Harbour on Newfoundland's Trinity Bay, built a new church for their growing summer community — 43 years after the village was abandoned in Newfoundland and Labrador's resettlement program.

It's the first church for the village and community members see it as a sign of growth.

The First Church of Pope's Harbour opened Saturday, 45 years after the village was abandoned in the controversial resettlement program.
(CBC)

On Saturday, the church bell rang for the first time as people flocked to the opening service in a village that clings to the hillsides and is accessible only by boat.

George Pippy left Pope's Harbour when it was abandoned in 1964 but was among the first to return and build a cabin in the 1980s. In fact, there are now more houses in Pope's Harbour than there were before it was abandoned.

Pippy keeps a sawmill in town and milled most of the lumber for many of the 22 cabins from local trees. He said that with so many people visiting the area, residents wanted more amenities.

"On weekends there was nothing to do," Pippy said. "Some of the boys said to me, 'What if we build a church?' And I said, 'I'll saw some lumber, you put it together.'"

Allan Fudge worked on the church, which took three years to build, and is one of its lay ministers.

He said he hopes the new church will be a place where cottagers and visitors can celebrate or just spend some quiet time.

"It is a community now because the church is the focus," Fudge said. "So when you come in, you see the church. I think it's a testament to the people who used to live here who never had a church. I think it serves as a very welcoming presence to this community."

Bucking the trend

The part-time residents of Pope's Harbour said their community is bucking an all-too-familiar Newfoundland and Labrador trend of dying rural communities.

"Whether it's on news or newspapers or internet or whatever, the focus is on moving away, closing things down," Fudge said. "And here we are, in a resettled community and opening a church for the first time. It's a really, nice warm feeling to have."

Fudge said the community feeling in the village seems to be from another era.

"It's like going back in time, in a traditional Newfoundland outport."

Calvin Lockyer owns a cottage in the area and was also a lay minister for the opening service. He said everyone from Pope's Harbour to nearby Little Harbour pitched in to help with the project and the neighbourly feeling is something locals cherish.

"I suspect it's like Newfoundland communities we're 100 years ago," Lockyer said. "We don't have shops, which means if you run out of a cup of sugar then your neighbour's got it, there's never any hesitation. Whether it's a nail, to a boat, to a cup a sugar, everyone shares everything they got and no one ever expects anything back in return."

Lockyer listened to the church bell Saturday, as it resonated off the hills around the harbour.

"That's the first time a bell has ever rung in this community even though people lived here for 100 years," Lockyer said.

The church is non-denominational and is open to anyone who visits.

Pope's Harbour was one of more than 300 communities abandoned during the controversial government-sponsored resettlement program between 1954 and 1975.