This delightful park is located on the southeast corner of the Avalon peninsula along Route 10 or, as it’s known around here, the Irish Loop. Chance Cove Provincial Park stretches from the highways edge right down to a trail to the spectacular coastline. Here you can see whales, seabirds and maybe even a seal or two.

Chance Cove Provincial Park was once the site of a small settlement of 50 people in the mid-19th century, an area full of legend and folklore. It was most probably named for mischance, referencing the many shipwrecks in the area. The most famous of which was the wreck of the S.S. Florizel that ran aground on the Horn Head Rocks just north of the park in 1913. Reports of wrecks run further back than that, however, with the S.S. Anglo-Saxon having run ashore just south of the park on April 27, 1863. Over 230 lives were claimed in the wreck, most of which were buried on a bluff overlooking the ocean in nearby Clam Cove. It’s said that the lives lost in these waters have led to the haunting of this area, with local legend insisting that it was these supernatural presences that led to the community being abandoned sometime prior to the turn of the century. In fact, up until the late 1980’s, foundations and cellars of the original community were still visible.

These stories, however, are meant for amusement and should be taken with a grain of salt. Chance Cove Provincial Park was opened in 1974 and has been welcoming the living ever since!