The town of Mary’s Harbour is the gateway to Battle Harbour, and being so close, means they see a lot of visitors. When a community like Mary’s Harbour gets visitors, it is well known that local trails are used quite often. When the town received a previous grant in 2021, the plan was to repair both White Water Falls Trail and the Gin Cove Trail. Unfortunately, because of the significant increase in building materials and the damage caused by the weight of the snow in 2022, they were only able to complete the White Water Falls Trail at that time.
With two grants received in 2023 from the International Grenfell Association, the Town of Mary’s Harbour has been able to upgrade the Gin Cove Trail and upgrade the old walking/cycling bridge! Most of the wooden boardwalk/steps were rotted &/or broken and the trail had been closed since the beginning of 2022. With the most recent IGA funding, they were able to remove all wooden pieces and replace them with pressure treated timbers and thicker boards, cut alders and erect signage.
The old bridge was built in 1960 and served to connect the northern part of the community with the south crossing over St. Mary’s River, which is a nice place for taking pictures. In the early 1990s a new bridge was built, and this new bridge now accommodates all vehicular traffic while the old wooden bridge is still used by locals and visitors – both for walking and cycling. There are also history boards on this bridge that give a background of settlers in Mary’s Harbour.
Most of the old boards on the surface of the walking bridge were broken or rotted. Like the trail, they were able to update these boards, and gain safe access to the bridge for all users for the next 30+ years.
With the process of repairing/replacing most of the walking trail and in some cases using a natural walking area instead of boards, the Gin Cove Trail is now again OPEN to the public!
The IGA is very pleased to have helped contribute to this initiative!
